Hillsborough Student's Artwork To Be Displayed On Route 206 Billboard

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Hillsborough Auten Road Intermediate School's Preston Baylis' artwork will be showcased on a billboard on Route 206 as part of the "wherever life takes you, go with your heart" Postcard contest.

One winner from Hillsborough high school, middle school, and intermediate school and an overall winner were announced at the Feb. 13 Board of Education meeting.

The winners were:

• Kelsey Luckenbaugh from Hillsborough High School (Forest postcard)
• Noor Fatima from Hillsborough Middle School (Paper Airplane postcard)
• Preston Baylis from Auten Road Intermediate School (Butterfly and Flower postcard)

Baylis was the overall winner.

The postcard contest is funded by the New Jersey Education Association through a Pride grant that was written by Christina Smith, a special ed teacher at Amsterdam Elementary School.

"We started the program during COVID so that students could receive postcards from their teachers to send them messages of encouragement and praise. The idea was generated from conversations with the HEA (Hillsborough Education Association) Pride Committee," Smith told Patch.

Students in grades 5-12 were tasked with submitting designs to support that year's theme. A panel of stakeholders including BOE, township, Pride, local store owners, pastors, and the superintendent chose the winners.

Each design is made into a postcard and the winning students also won a $25 gift card.

"This is our third year doing this so we changed the target audience," said Smith. "This year the postcards will be written from elementary students and sent to senior citizens around Somerset County."