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Okla. students win Be Smart-Don’t Start! contest

Fifth-year awareness program encourages children, adults to be tobacco free

View winning storyboards online.

(TULSA, May 15, 2008) – Jared McNally, a third grader at Anderson Elementary in Sand Springs, Okla., and Magethsi Soria, a fifth grader at Rancho Village Elementary in Oklahoma City, each will produce their own 30-second TV public service announcements (PSAs) about the dangers of tobacco use. McNally and Soria’s drawings and narratives were chosen from more than 2,200 entries across the state in the Be Smart-Don’t Start! tobacco storyboard contest for students, grades kindergarten through fifth. McNally and Soria, eastern and central/western Oklahoma grand prize winners respectively, will have their PSAs shown on television throughout the summer to teach their peers why they shouldn’t smoke. The PSAs will feature animated versions of the children’s artwork and their own voices reading their narratives. Winning entries can be viewed online at http://www.bcbsok.com/.

The program is co-sponsored by the American Lung Association of Central States Serving Oklahoma, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma, Cox Communications, the Oklahoma State Department of Education and the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

Eighteen more students were chosen as winners in their divisions:

Eastern Oklahoma Winners:

K – 1st Grade Category
1st Place Aubrey Brown  Maryetta Elementary, Stilwell
2nd Place Stone Daniels  Liberty Elementary, Sallisaw
3rd Place Kolbe Booker  Home schooled, Muskogee

2nd – 3rd Grade Category
1st Place Plizia Bishop  Maryetta Elementary, Stilwell
2nd Place Giovanni Jaquez Madill Elementary, Madill
3rd Place Nicole Murphy Vian Elementary, Vian

4th – 5th Grade Category
1st Place Molli Provine  Jenks Southeast Elementary, Tulsa
2nd Place Roxy Don McDaniel Harmony Elementary, Atoka
3rd Place Kia Manners  Will Rogers Elementary, Vinita

Central/Western Oklahoma Winners:
K – 1st Grade Category
1st Place Sarah Scott  Centennial Elementary, Edmond
2nd Place Payton Godlewski Northern Hills Elementary, Edmond
3rd Place Macy Waddell  Newcastle Elementary, Newcastle

2nd – 3rd Grade Category
1st Place Joshua Hill  Surrey Hills Elementary, Yukon
2nd Place Tori Brauner  Centennial Elementary, Arcadia
3rd Place Michael Chavez John Glenn Elementary, Oklahoma City

4th – 5th Grade Category
1st Place Brooke Kephart Canton Elementary, Canton
2nd Place Luke Lile  Gilmour Elementary, Kingfisher
3rd Place MacKenzie Hill Newcastle Elementary, Yukon

The students will be honored at an awards ceremony at 3:30 p.m., May 22, in the fourth floor rotunda of the State Capitol building in Oklahoma City. The event will feature State Superintendent Sandy Garrett, Margaret Crump, senior vice president of community initiatives, American Lung Association of Central States Serving Oklahoma, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma President Bert Marshall. Cox Communications and SYGMA, a food service distribution company in Pryor, will present teachers of winning students with gift certificates for school supplies. All award winners will receive a medal and a monetary award.