Be Smart-Don’t Start! Contest Winners Announced

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

Oklahoma City, OK — Kinley Soap, a kindergartner at Maryetta Elementary in Stilwell, Okla., and Kylie Parker, a third grader at Washington Irving Elementary in Edmond, Okla. each produced their own 30-second TV public service announcements (PSAs) about the dangers of tobacco use. Soap and Parker's drawings and narratives were chosen from more than 1,400 entries across the state in the Be Smart-Don't Start! tobacco storyboard contest for students, grades kindergarten through fifth. Soap and Parker, 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 feature animated versions of the children's artwork and their own voices reading their narratives. Winning entries can be viewed online.

The Be Smart-Don't Start! program is co-sponsored by the American Lung Association 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 other students were chosen as winners in their grade categories:

Eastern Oklahoma Winners

K – 1st Grade Category
1st Place Zoe Gonzales  Home school, Broken Arrow
2nd Place Salma Fleifil  University School at the University of Tulsa,  Tulsa
3rd Place Summer Brown Home school, Muskogee

2nd – 3rd Grade Category
1st Place Aubrey Brown  Maryetta School, Stilwell
2nd Place Jaycee Soap  Maryetta School, Stilwell
3rd Place Cassidi Hindman Pawhuska Elementary, Pawhuska

4th – 5th Grade Category
1st Place Morgan Kirkland Maryetta School, Stilwell
2nd Place Kyra Pritchett  Maryetta School, Stilwell
3rd Place Colton Hindman Pawhuska Indian Camp, Pawhuska

Central/Western Oklahoma Winners

K – 1st Grade Category
1st Place Asher Clift  Centennial Elementary, Edmond
2nd Place Adilenee Campos Rancho Village Elementary, Oklahoma City
3rd Place Nallely Lopez  Rancho Village Elementary, Oklahoma City

2nd – 3rd Grade Category
1st Place Morgan Duckwall Newcastle Elementary, Newcastle
2nd Place Katie Carbonell Newcastle Elementary, Newcastle
3rd Place Adhya Kumar  Centennial Elementary, Edmond

4th – 5th Grade Category
1st Place Bailey Teakell  Plato Elementary, Duncan
2nd Place Patricia Liu  Centennial Elementary, Edmond
3rd Place Abby Cerano  Rosary Catholic School, Oklahoma City

The students were honored at an awards ceremony on April 1, at the State Capitol in Oklahoma City. The event featured State Superintendent Sandy Garrett, Margaret Crump, senior vice president of community initiatives for the 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, Okla., presented teachers of winning students with gift certificates for school supplies. All award winners received a medal and a monetary award.

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