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Community Corner

Deerfield High School Students Among Winners of Metra Contest

CHICAGO (June 12, 2014) – Winners have been chosen in the 2014 edition of Metra’s Safety Poster and Essay Contest, designed to promote and reinforce railroad safety messages and keep our region’s children safe around trains. Thousands of students from across the region participated in this year’s contest, creating artwork or writing essays around the theme “Get Smart, Look Listen Live.”

Each year, Metra’s Safety Contest invites students in grades K-12 throughout its six-county service area to submit poster designs and essays highlighting the importance of railroad safety. Tasked with selecting the winners were a panel of 23 judges, including government officials, representatives from safety and education advocacy groups, business and community leaders, media and railroad professionals.

Deerfield High School Student Joshua Andrew Moy won first place in the 12th grade poster category.  Deerfield High School student Jennifer Sachs won second place in the 12th grade poster category. 

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“Safety has always been Metra’s highest priority, and for the past eight years this contest has been an innovative way for Metra to bring rail safety discussions into classrooms across our region,” said Metra Executive Director/CEO Don Orseno. “The posters and essays created by these talented students help us educate future as well as current riders about how to stay safe around our trains and tracks.”

First, second, and third-place winners were chosen from each grade level for the Metra Safety Poster Contest. One winner from each grade group – elementary school, middle school and high school – was chosen for the Safety Essay Contest. First-place poster and essay contest winners receive an iPad, while second- and third-place poster contest winners receive $250 and $100 gift cards, respectively. 

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A People’s Choice Award winner will also be selected via voting on Metra’s website www.metrarail.com/2014postercontest. By going to this site, the public will be able to select their favorite poster from this year’s first place finishers. Voting will be available online beginning Monday, June 9, 2014 through midnight Thursday, July 31 and is open to the public. The artist who garners the most votes will receive an additional $250 prize. The winner of the People’s Choice Award will be announced at the August meeting of the Metra Board.

Metra also recognizes the school with the most entries submitted in the poster contest. This year’s winner is Chicago’s Norman A. Bridge Elementary with more than 500 entries. In honor of this achievement, the school will receive a computer for use in the classroom.

The first-place poster designs will be featured in Metra’s 2015 safety calendar, on monthly tickets and on the Metra website. Winning safety essays will also be featured in the safety calendar, the Metra website and Facebook page. The second and third place posters will also be featured on the contest’s Facebook page.

Metra’s Safety Contest, which is in its eighth year, would not be possible without the support of its sponsors, whose generous contributions have helped Metra defray the costs of the contest prizes as well as the production of the safety posters. This year’s contest sponsor is the Hubbard Radio Group, owners of Chicago radio stations 97.1 FM The Drive, 100.3 Chicago’s Rewind and 101.9 The Mix.

Information about the campaign, along with all of the Safety Contest winners, is available at www.metrarail.com and www.facebook.com/MetraContest.

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