Please click the headline to see the students' award-winning posters.
Vernon Students Win Local Fire Prevention Poster Contest
VERNON, Connecticut – Two Vernon Public Schools students were honored this week for their artistic efforts and fire prevention messages.
Shawn Parrot, 8, a third-grader at Skinner Road School, and Chase Kopcza, 9, a fourth-grader at Lake Street School, were the Vernon winners in the annual Fire Prevention Poster Contest.
Vernon Fire Marshal Dan Wasilewski and Deputy Fire Marshal Chris Wilcox presented each winner with a certificate and a gift card during visits to their schools.
Shawn said his poster is intended to help children understand that “you should not play with lighters and matches.”
Shawn also said he wanted people to understand that firefighters “help people when there is a fire.” Shawn is a student in Carol Chatterton’s class.
Chase’s poster show’s an elaborate forest scene with a tent, pine trees and a camp fire. He said he wanted people to know “how dangerous it is to leave your campfire unattended if you go to bed” and that “It could start a forest fire.”
Chase said his mom, an artist, explained to him how to create a realistic scene, and how to draw pine trees. “It’s very tiring for your fingers,” he said. Chase is a student in Stephanie Schipper’s class.
All Vernon Public Schools third- and fourth-graders were eligible to enter the contest and Wasilewski and Wilcox judged the entries. Chase’s poster will move on to the Tolland County poster contest.
“We have a lot of creative and artistic students in Vernon and they did such a great job with their posters it was really difficult to choose winners,” Wasilewski said. “Ultimately, Chris and I thought Shawn’s and Chase’s posters best illustrated this year’s theme of “Fire Prevention, Everyone, Every Day.”
The annual poster contest is sponsored by the Connecticut Fire Marshals Association, the Connecticut Fire Chiefs Association, the State Fire Marshal, the Connecticut Department of Education Connecticut Fair Plan, an insurance provider.