Friday March 27th is the last day to enter the first-ever Clean Air Poster Contest. More than 100 students from Logan High School’s environmental science classes, the Governor’s Statewide Youth Council and at arts and science classes have been busy designing educational posters on how to keep Cache Valley’s air healthy and clean, especially during the winter months.
The Clean Air Poster Contest is sponsored jointly by Logan City and Utah State University along with Logan High School. Ed Stafford, Professor of Marketing at Utah State University’s Huntsman School of Business, said auto emissions are a major contributor to air quality problems and involving high school students just starting to drive seems like the right time to start educating young people about air quality.
“If we could engage them so they understood the implications of getting behind the wheel, and the coolness of being able to drive to school and not ride the bus anymore, what would be the impact on air quality?” Stafford asked during KVNU’s For the People program. “We thought if we had them develop posters where they could learn by developing posters to educate others that would be a way of developing an ethic of concern about our air quality.”
The students creating the best overall poster will receive a grand prize of $100 from Logan City and local businesses are offering other prizes. Winners will be announced at an awards night in April at Logan High.
The winning posters will be displayed around the community and at the State Capitol beginning on Earth Day, April 22, through the summer.
USU Environment and Society professor Roslynn Brain and Logan City’s Conservation Coordinator Emily Malik are also leading the contest initiative. A service-learning mini grant from USU’s Community Bridge Initiative will support turning some posters into signs, car decals, and other marketing outreach tools. The contest is an outgrowth from the Cache Clean Air Consortium conference held last October at USU.