Chelmsford Student Wins DA's Office Poster Contest

Courtesy photo: Nashoba Tech senior Tristan Khim of Chelmsford shows the poster that won the third annual Poster Project sponsored by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and Middlesex Partnerships for Youth Inc.

A senior in the Design & Visual Communications program at Nashoba Valley Technical High School is the winner of the third annual Poster Project sponsored by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and Middlesex Partnerships for Youth Inc.

Tristan Khim of Chelmsford designed the winning poster, and his artwork will be posted in high schools throughout Middlesex County.

“I’m pretty excited,” Tristan said. “I’ve been here four years, and this is the first time I’ve won something. I’ve entered numerous contests and I’ve been runner-up, but this is my first win. It’s pretty cool that my poster will be hanging up in other schools.”

The theme of this year’s poster contest was “I’m Worth More,” and students were asked to explore the ideas of self-confidence, personal strength and healthy relationships through mutual respect, acceptance and appreciation of strengths, weaknesses and the differences among us.

Tristan’s poster shows dominoes falling, one after the other, with four still standing, and the words, “Stand up to peer pressure. You’re worth more.”

Tristan thought about the domino effect and came up with the idea for his design. A classmate brought in some dominoes from home, and Tristan set up the photograph and designed the poster around the idea.

“My teachers gave me a lot of support,” he said. “They were confident I was going to win.”

“Tristan combined design elements with his photography skills to produce the award-winning artwork,” said Derik Rochon, an instructor in Nashoba Tech’s Design & Visual Communications program.

Almost 200 posters were submitted from high-school and middle-school students in Middlesex County, including about 35 from students at Nashoba Tech. The winners were selected by a panel of judges that included art teachers, police officers, school administrators and staff of the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and Middlesex Partnerships for Youth.

“It is always wonderful to see artwork students have created,” District Attorney Marian Ryan said. “Their imaginations are amazing. They already have the art and graphic skills to get important messages across in a professional and eye-catching way. I would like to thank all the students who submitted posters for this year’s contest and express our appreciation to officials at the schools who helped to facilitate applications and encourage students to submit their work.”

This is the second time already this year that a student in Nashoba Tech’s Design & Visual Communications program has won a design contest. Christina Perini, a senior from Harvard, was notified in January that her design had won the national Association for Career and Technical Education’s CTE Month 2015 Graphic Design Poster Contest, and that her design was to be included in the February issue of Techniques magazine, a national publication.