About 430 entries were narrowed down to 16 finalists. The winners were awarded with gift certificates and other prizes.
Safety was the name of the game at this week’s Mt. Laurel Board of Education meeting — bus safety that is.
This week marked the BOE’s annual meeting where the board honors the winners of the district’s yearly School Bus Safety Poster Contest.
Coordinated each year by members of the district’s transportation staff, the contest allows students in each of the district’s grades from kindergarten through eighth to create their own poster promoting an aspect of school bus safety.
Once the submissions are collected, transportation staff members and others act as judges to narrow the entries to a few, select winners.
According to bus driver and contest coordinator Jim Errico, this year’s contest once again broke the record for the most entries from students, with about 430 poster submissions from students across the district.
From those hundreds of posters, coordinators chose 16 winners. Coordinators then awarded the winners prize packages that included donations from local businesses, such as gift certificates for restaurants, vouchers for gyms and camps, passes to an aquarium and more.
“The top 16 are in this room tonight, so great job. We had everybody voting for them, from bus drivers to aides, and we even kidnapped a FedEx guy. We had everybody,” Errico said.
Superintendent George Rafferty thanked Errico and his fellow contest coordinators for what he described as their hard work and effort needed to run the contest successfully each year.
“It really is important that we have this, and we wouldn’t have it without your help,” Rafferty said.
Speaking to parents at the meeting, Rafferty said the contest even allows the district to earn credits from its insurance company as the students spread knowledge about bus safety.
“As taxpayers, you can really appreciate the fact that their good work and their poster contest is earning you money back on insurance premiums for the school district,” Rafferty said.
Winning students from Larchmont Elementary School include kindergartener Netra Patel and third grader Ioanna Moustakas.
Winning students from Springville Elementary School include kindergartener Isabelle Hines and fourth grader Sanvi Metkar.
Winning students from Hillside Elementary School include kindergartener Charlotte O’Drain, first grader Sophia Koltchev and fourth grader Rut Patil.
Winning students from Parkway Elementary School include kindergartener Ryan Jost and first grader Thalia Cardenas.
Winning students from Fleetwood Elementary School include second grader Elizabeth Burnett and fourth grader Krish Mehta
The winning student from Countryside Elementary School was kindergartener Ava Hamersly.
Winning students from Hartford School include fifth grader Abhinav Reddy and sixth grader Isaiah Williams.
Winning students from Harrington Middle School include seventh grader Aayush Talreja and eighth grader Shane Tomalinas.
During the meeting, the board also honored the coordinators of the contest, which included Errico, Patti Heddendorf, Linda Syvertson, Donna Moser and Joe Del Rossi.
