The Clean Air Campaign Announces "Clean Air Heroes" Art Competition Winners

The Clean Air Campaign has announced Ching-Tai Chang, Emma Vines, Alice Yeager, Nicole Divinitz and Alice Zhang as its winners of the fourth annual Young Lung at Work statewide art contest.  

Chang, a 5th grader from Berkeley Lake Elementary in Gwinnett County, captured first place in the elementary division. Her comic strip depicts a car that comes to life and informs children what they can do to improve air quality.

 A trio of 6th graders, Vines, Yaeger and Divinitz, from Rising Starr Middle School in Fayette County, won first place in the middle school division with their video public service announcement (PSA) titled, “The Biking Dead,” which depicts zombies encouraging people to ride bikes. 

Zhang, a 10th grader from Walton High School in Cobb County, took home first place honors in the t-shirt design category for high school students. Her t-shirt design highlights the effect a car’s exhaust has on the earth.

 Guided by the theme “Clean Air Heroes,” students were invited in January to create original artwork that illustrates the positive impact that actions such as riding the bus, turning off an idling car engine or carpooling to school with a friend can have on Georgia’s air quality. 

This year’s winners include:

Elementary School Winners:

• First place: Ching-Tai Chang, 5th grade
  Berkeley Lake Elementary School (Gwinnett County Schools, Duluth, Ga.)
  Title: What We Could DO!
• Second place: Cuinn O’Brien, 2nd grade
  Yargo Elementary School (Barrow County Schools, Winder, Ga.)
  Title: Power in Numbers
• Third place: Cathy Nguyen, 5th grade Mason Elementary School (Gwinnett County Schools, Duluth, Ga.) Title: Clean Air Hero

• Honorable Mention: Madison Ligozio, 5th grade
  Kemp Elementary School (Cobb County Schools, Powder Springs, Ga.)
  Title: Be Green!
• Honorable Mention: Shelby Laine, 3rd grade
  Brookwood Elementary School (Forsyth County Schools, Cumming, Ga.)
  Title: Saving the Monarchs
• Honorable Mention: Brayden Derijke, 1st grade
  Springdale Park Elementary School (Atlanta Public Schools, Atlanta)
  Title: Pollution

• First place: Emma Vines, 6th grade; Alice Yaeger, 6th grade; Nicole Divinitz, 6th grade
  Rising Starr Middle School (Fayette County Schools, Fayetteville, Ga.)
  Title: The Biking Dead
• Second place: Hanah Feinstein, Ricardo Gomez, Ashley Grochau, Alexis Kibbe, Sierra Little, and Danielle Moreno, 8th grade; Jacob Mounsour, 7th grade
  Riverwatch Middle School (Forsyth County Schools, Suwanee, Ga.)
  Title: Clean Air Superhero
• Third place: Thomas Foodman, 7th grade
  Brandon Hall School (Atlanta)
  Title: Don’t Idle Song
• Honorable Mention: Sonia Maldonado Guzman, Maritza Lizbeth Rivera, Maria Arreola, and Brenda Santana, 8th grade
  Ridgeview Charter School (Fulton County Schools, Sandy Springs, Ga.)
  Title: Rounding Up Clean Air
• Honorable Mention: Harrison Gerber, 7th grade; Julian Finch, 8th grade; Thomas Foodman, 7th grade
  Brandon Hall School (Atlanta)
  Title: Clean Air Song/Poem

High School Winners:

• First place: Alice Zhang, 10th grade
  Walton High School (Cobb County Schools, Marietta, Ga.)
  Title: Exhausted
• Second place: Lianna Arah Kang, 12th grade
  Northview High School (Fulton County Schools, Johns Creek, Ga.)
  Title: Heroine Mother Nature
• Third place: Sandy Oh, 11th grade
  North Gwinnett High School (Gwinnett County Schools, Suwanee, Ga.)
  Title: Clean Air Hero
• Honorable Mention: Curry Reach and Claire Sammons, 12th grade Brookwood High School (Gwinnett County Schools, Snellville, Ga.) Title: Are You Exhausted with Your Exhaust?

“Our Clean Air Heroes art competition highlights the fact that young people can be heroes by taking small actions to reduce pollution and raising awareness about the importance of good air quality,” said Gretchen Gigley, Clean Air Campaign director of education. “The contest was competitive this year, with more than 1,500 entries from K-12 students all over the state. We’re glad to see so many schools engaging in activities that emphasize the responsibility all of us have to our schools and communities no matter what age you happen to be.”

All winning entries will be featured on The Clean Air Campaign’s website and social media channels — showing off the winner’s talent to tens of thousands of Georgians. Donations will also be made to each winner’s school science, environmental or art program. In addition, winning T-shirt designs from the high school category will be printed and provided to first, second and third place winners.

Clean Air Schools programs encourage students to take the lead in reducing air pollution in school zones across Georgia. Through action-based projects designed to change commuting behavior, more than 300 Georgia schools each year work  with Clean Air Schools to reduce idling, promote carpooling, increase bus ridership and engage in countless other actions to educate students about the benefits of cleaner air and create cleaner, healthier schools and communities.

Georgia schools or parents interested in joining the Clean Air Schools program can visit CleanAirCampaign.org/Schools.  For exclusive information about The Clean Air Campaign, follow@CleanAirGa on Twitter and find The Clean Air Campaign on Facebook at Facebook.com/CleanAirCampaign.