Local student wins state, regional awards for fire prevention poster contest
- Lake County News reports
- Posted On
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A local elementary school student has won state and regional awards for her artwork and will be featured at the state fair this month.
The National Garden Clubs Inc. and the National Forest Service partner each year to sponsor the Smokey Bear/Woodsy Owl poster contest.
First through fifth grade students are invited to show their understanding of fire prevention and basic environmental conservation principles through original drawings of Smokey Bear or Woodsy Owl.
This year is a celebration of Smokey’s 75th birthday so the contest only featured Smokey.
Each year the Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club in Lakeport reaches out to area schools to get children involved in the contest.
This year 14 posters were received and two were chosen to be sent to the California poster chairman to be judged.
Sawyer Shucart, a fourth grade student at Lakeport Elementary, received a first place at the state level.
The poster then went on to win first place in the Pacific Region, which is made up of garden clubs from eight Western states of the National Garden Clubs Inc. Her poster has been sent on to compete at the National level.
Smokey Bear made a special appearance on Friday to present Sawyer with an engraved plaque from the Mendocino National Forest Service office in Upper Lake. She also received certificates and a check for $25 from the state.
Sawyer will be honored at the California State Fair in July.
Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club thanked several individuals for making the contest possible, including Brenda Allen of Lakeport Elementary for working with the children to create the posters; Marilyn Guenther, retired teacher and liaison to the garden club who also worked with the children; and Linda Waterstraat, Smokey Bear/Woodsy Owl poster chair for Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club.