2003 - Winners selected in PPL’s electrical safety poster contest

PPL has selected 32 winners from nearly 5,000 entries in this year’s electrical safety poster contest for students in kindergarten through 12^th grade.

"This was the 17^th consecutive year for the contest, which has reached tens of thousands of school-age children with its message about the importance of being careful around electric facilities and appliances," said Larry Sparta, PPL’s education relations director. "The contest is the centerpiece of PPL’s public outreach about electrical safety awareness."

Outdoor electrical safety near overhead and underground power lines was the focus of the students’ artwork. They used crayons, pencils, paints or computer-generated graphics to depict their electrical safety messages.

The contest was open to students from schools in the PPL Electric Utilities service area in Pennsylvania, in nearby Warren County, N. J., and in Maine communities where PPL has hydroelectric generating stations.

A team that included PPL representatives and Chuck Ricketts, art teacher at Allentown School District’s Sheridan Elementary School, judged the posters and selected winners in 12 grade-level categories. Winning students receive shares of PPL Corporation stock.

The 12 grand-prize-winning student posters will be highlighted on the PPL 2003 electrical safety poster calendar. Calendars will be mailed to participating schools in early January 2003.

This year’s winners are:

First grade: Brianna Kubishin (grand prize), Holy Spirit Academy, Hazleton; Emily Antosh (first place), St. Clare School, Scranton; Joseph Gulston (honorable mention), Notre Dame Elementary, East Stroudsburg.

Second grade: Tony Castellani (grand prize), Valley View Elementary, Peckville.

Third grade: Kimberly Dempsey (grand prize), St. Clare School, Scranton; Francis Notarianni (first place), Holy Rosary School, Scranton; Sarah Babinski (honorable mention), Holy Rosary School, Scranton.

Fourth grade: Tucker Brown (grand prize), Sunbury Christian Academy, Northumberland; Sarah Grutza (first place), Shenandoah Valley Elementary, Shenandoah; Vinnie Castellani (honorable mention), Valley View Intermediate, Archbald.

Fifth grade: Jonathan Rosario (grand prize), Great Meadows Middle School, Great Meadows, N.J.; Sean McDonald (first place), Immaculate Heart Elementary, Girardville; Meredith Salmon (honorable mention), Abington Heights Middle School, Clarks Summit.

Sixth grade: Elizabeth Keiser (grand prize), Peters Elementary School, Slatington.

Seventh grade: Rachael Sverchek (grand prize), SS. Peter and Paul School, Lehighton; Sean Herman (first place), Milton Middle School, Milton; Kathryn Foge (honorable mention), Allen Middle School, Camp Hill.

Eighth grade: Alysha Christian (grand prize), Donegal Middle School, Marietta; Darya Hrycenko (first place), home school, Allentown; Vanessa Weber (honorable mention), Mechanicsburg Area Intermediate School, Mechanicsburg.

Ninth grade: Kiley Blass (grand prize), Southern Columbia High, Catawissa; Trahn Le (first place), Mechanicsburg Area Intermediate School, Mechanicsburg; Jeffery Schreicher (honorable mention), Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, Schnecksville.

10th to 12th grades: Molly Stametz (grand prize), Southern Columbia High, Catawissa; Laura Novistsky (first place), Carbon County Vocational-Technical, Jim Thorpe; Sara Bumgardner (honorable mention), Muncy Junior/Senior High, Muncy.

Computer graphics: Sixth to eighth grades: Carson Beyl (grand prize), Lancaster Country Day School, Lancaster; Katie Bryson (first place), Donegal Middle School, Marietta; Anthony Umbriac (honorable mention), St. Joseph’s School, Danville.

Computer graphics: Ninth to 12th grades: Kimbery Klopp (grand prize), Lebanon High, Lebanon; Ryan Toews (first place), Brownstown Career and Technology Center, Brownstown; Grace Spickler (honorable mention), Sun Tech, New Berlin.