Garrett Junior High School students Brooke Baker and Samantha Bahd won first and second place, respectively, in the Boulder City Peace Poster Contest sponsored by the Boulder City Lions Club.
The contest had students at the school draw a poster that best represented the ideas of peace and prosperity. The winners were recognized Nov. 3. Brooke’s winning entry now advances to the state level.
Lions Club International sponsors an annual contest with entries from around the world seeking to have their posters featured in front of the United Nations. The state winner will compete with artists from around the world, with the grand prize winner receiving a trip to the U.N. headquarters in New York for a special ceremony.
Locally, the poster contest was put into motion by Garrett Junior High art teacher Heather Obermiller and the Lions club to teach about the values of peace after a contentious and sometimes nasty election cycle.
“There was just so much negativity in the country and the media this year, and I just wanted to have my kids think about the values of peace and how it can influence our society for the better,” Obermiller said.
Brooke’s winning poster featured Earth with its top pulled off revealing a long, interwoven rope of flags from many different countries. The flags were intertwined by two doves as they flew under an olive branch.
Samantha’s second-place poster featured a broken planet Earth and a large sewing needle attempting to put it back together.
Obermiller said she was really impressed with some of the posters.
“It is always exciting to see what the kids come up with and how they tie things together,” she said.
Boulder City Lions member and contest judge Linda Stocker said that Brooke created a beautiful poster.
“This contest was a great opportunity for the kids and Brooke created a wonderful poster,” Stocker said. “I hope she is able to make it far in this contest.”
Brooke also received a $50 prize and Samantha received $25.
Obermiller and Stocker said they plan to make a Boulder City peace poster contest a yearly event.
Contact reporter Max Lancaster at mlancaster @bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow him on Twitter @MLancasterBCR.