Substance Abuse Poster Awareness Contest winners

Intermountain Catholic

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SALT LAKE CITY - For many years, the Knights of Columbus have been very active in the fight against all forms of substance abuse.

With that idea in mind, the Supreme Council officers sponsor the Knight of Columbus Substance Abuse Awareness Poster Contest for school-age youth.

This year, the winners were Myranda Alcas and Sophie Robertson in the 8- to 11-year-old category, and Kati Simon and Maddie Barnard in the 12- to 14-year-old category.

Alcas, a student at Saint Francis Xavier Regional School, decided to enter the contest because everyone in her school was doing it.

"Me and my friend (Haily Smith) wanted to do something kind of cute; she gave me the idea of the flower and I came with everything else," Alcas said. "Kids and people don't need to do drugs - they are not good."

Alcas doesn't know exactly how she feels about winning the award but she is very excited that her poster is now going to the national contest in Connecticut.

"Two people from my school won awards so both our drawings are going to Connecticut for a national contest," Alcas said.

"She got a package and $50, we all are very happy for her," said Luis Alcas, Myranda's father.

The other Saint Francis Xavier Regional School winner is Sophie Robertson.

"I just like to do it every year. I just like to draw; it's fun," Robertson said.

Robertson is good friends with Alcas and she is very happy that both were awarded prizes and that now both of their drawings are going to the national contest.

"I feel really happy and excited and part of this is that my good friend won, too," Robertson said, adding that creating awareness of not drinking alcohol is "really important because if you do it when you drive, you can go to jail and hurt someone else."

"She is so wonderful; we are just so proud of her. She does everything because she tries so hard, but she is so humble about it," said Bernedette Robertson, Sophie's mother. "There's no stopping her. She is unstoppable. Everything that she puts her mind to, she jumps into it with both feet. She is happy and she is everybody's friend."

Jimmy Robertson, Sophie's father, said that he is very proud of his daughter because she always tries and gives 100 percent, and even when she does not win she is never sad or disappointed. "She just tries everything. She is never upset, she is always happy for the persons and is very humble about it," he said. "To see her winning - for us it's just such a humbling experience. I am so proud of her. She is just so persistent, she just keeps on trying and when it finally happens ...I just think she deserves it. If you keep on trying and going and going eventually the good things happen."

The Knights of Columbus Substance Abuse Awareness Poster Contest is intended to promote awareness among young people of the major societal problems of alcohol and drug abuse.

The Poster Contest is open to all boys and girls ages 8 through 14. The contest is conducted at the local level with winning entries progressing through state level of competition to the international level. The winning entries at the international level will serve as the basis for a series of anti-substance abuse posters, with creative credit going to their artists.

The Knights of Columbus is an international Catholic fraternal service organization with nearly 1.7 million members in nearly 13,000 local councils.