Young winners announced in census poster contest
Youthful creativity was on display Wednesday morning in Diamond Park as the winners of the “Count Me In!” poster contest were awarded.
The Butler Eagle and Butler County Board of Commissioners partnered in putting on the project, in which students from kindergarten through fourth grade throughout the county were invited to make a poster reminding residents to complete their 2020 U.S. Census.
Of the 43 entries, Dylan Thurber, a fourth-grader at Summit Elementary School in the Butler Area School District, came out on top with his depiction of the ways census information helps every community.
“It's really fun and it can help a lot of people and count the people in Butler County,” Dylan said of the census.
He said his mother, Misty Thurber, played a little trick on him when she received the news that he was the contest's winner.
“She said something came in the mail for me and she said, 'You did it in March,'” Dylan said.
The young artist received a Chromebook from sponsor AK Steel, Butler Works.
Second prize and a gift basket full of summertime activities from the Butler PM Rotary went to Aubrey Wilkinson, a first-grader at Center Township Elementary School in the Butler district.
Aubrey drew a huge hand and decorated it with multiple colors along with the words “Count Me In.”
“I just came up with it,” Aubrey said.
Aubrey is the daughter of Tanya and Wesley Wilkinson of Oakland Township.
The seven students awarded honorable mentions for their posters each received a $25 gift card from Target courtesy of the Butler County Federated Library System.
One of them was Hannah Simmons, a third-grader at Butler Catholic School.Hannah said she has always enjoyed drawing.“And I like art,” she said.Mark Gordon, the county's chief of economic development and planning and a contest organizer, said with the troubles currently plaguing the country, the children who entered the poster contest demonstrated that everyone counts.“These kids are the future, and it will be in great hands,” Gordon said.Gordon said the census brings in about $2,093 per person per year in federal, state and congressional district funding across the United States.He said Butler County is at about 70 percent completion for the census.“We would like to be in the 90s, so we have a lot of work to do,” Gordon said.He said some communities in the northeast part of the county are at about 60 percent.In the 2010 census, about 80 percent of Butler County residents completed and turned in their information.Because one census track in Zelienople did not participate 10 years ago, Zelienople lost almost $1 million in government funding, Gordon said.
“So that's a big deal,” he said.If it was discovered through census information that Butler County — which is at about 190,000 in population — has more people than officials thought, the county could be bumped into a higher classification and receive more government dollars, Gordon said.The poster contest kicks off a media campaign using the students' artwork to encourage county residents to fill out their census forms.Leslie Osche, county commissioners chairwoman, said seeing the park filled with youngsters and their parents on a warm and breezy morning gives her hope during a somewhat dark period in the nation's history.She said a committee at the Eagle narrowed down the posters to be in contention for a win and shipped them to the county government center, where the commissioners and a panel of county officials picked a winner, second place and honorable mentions.“We had the biggest, most hilarious battle trying to judge these things,” Osche said.She said Butler County is ahead in census completions, but urged those who have not done so to complete their census as soon as possible.Commissioner Kim Geyer was excited to congratulate Emily Rathbun, a second-grader at Moraine Elementary School in the Slippery Rock Area School District, for her unique poster.“It's a cow in a cape,” Geyer said.Tammy Schuey, the Eagle's general manager, said she was impressed with the number and quality of entries in the contest, given the coronavirus pandemic.“We were thrilled with the creativity of these young people,” Schuey said. “It was a fun project.”
Winners of the “Count Me In!” poster contest, sponsored by the county and Butler Eagle, are:First place, Dylan Thurber, fourth grade, Summit Township Elementary, Butler Area School DistrictSecond place, Aubrey Wilkinson, first grade, Center Township Elementary, Butler Area School DistrictHonorable mentions:Jack Milne, second grade, Connoquenessing Valley Elementary, Seneca Valley School DistrictJuliet Tralongo, third grade, Haine Elementary, Seneca Valley School DistrictHannah Simmons, third grade, Butler Catholic SchoolLyric Pappas, third grade, Emily Brittain, Butler Area School DistrictEmily Rathbun, second grade, Moraine Elementary, Slippery Rock Area School DistrictHarper Geibel, fourth grade, Summit Township Elementary, Butler Area School DistrictLiam Johnson, second grade, Slippery Rock Elementary, Slippery Rock Area School District.
