Nathan Smith's award-winning poster
May 29, 2009
Nathan Smith, a fifth grader this past year at Ward-Stewart Elementary in Starkville, is the Mississippi state winner in a national poster contest. He has won a $50 U. S. Savings Bond for creatively depicting why and how Starkville and surrounding communities should “Fight the Bite.”
The contest (www.fightthebitecontest.org) is sponsored annually by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the DEET Education Program. The teacher who assisted Nathan with his contest entry is Jana Everett.
“I was inspired to enter the contest because there are a lot of bugs and diseases out there that we need to take action against now!” Nathan said. “I really think more people should take steps toward fighting the bite by applying DEET before going outside.” His interests include Boy Scouts, camping, canoeing, video games and cello.
A panel of judges, including Robert Pestronk, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officers, reviewed the entries and selected two Grand Prize winners—one from each grade—who won a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond and award certificate. The judges also chose state winners for fifth grade and sixth grade, who will receive a $50 savings bond and certificate.
The contest adopted the CDC’s “Fight the Bite” slogan to emphasize the need to avoid mosquito and tick bites because of the many diseases they can convey to humans, such as West Nile virus and Lyme disease.
The fifth-grade national winner is Meghan Zengel, 11, of Springfield, Mo. The sixth-grade national winner is Richard Schleicher, 12, of Stockton, Kan.
The winning posters are online at www.fightthebitecontest.org. They also will be displayed at CDC headquarters in Atlanta and in the DEET Education Program offices in Washington, D.C. The sponsors will share the images nationally with public health educators and school nurses. The contest sponsors plan to incorporate the posters in future educational materials.
Consumers can find information about diseases from mosquito and tick bites, repellent use and other prevention strategies such as limiting standing water to reduce mosquitoes and landscape modification to discourage ticks at websites such as www.cdc.gov/westnile and www.cdc.gov/lyme. Available domestically since 1957, DEET is the world’s most widely used active ingredient in insect repellents. The CDC and other authorities, as well as public health organizations and health care professionals, have long recommended these repellents. The American Academy of Pediatrics says repellents with up to 30 percent DEET can be used on children over two months of age.
The DEET Education Program (www.deetonline.org) is supported by Clariant Corp., McLaughlin Gormley King Co., S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., 3M Company and Vertellus Health and Specialties Inc.
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