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4th-grader’s safety poster wins statewide contest
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Maggie Brogan, a fourth-grader at Dobbins Elementary in Poland, won the 2011 Ohio Radon Poster Contest. She received an award from the Ohio Department of Health on Thursday.
POLAND
A fourth-grade student’s poster about radon — a substance she had never heard of before her assignment — is now part of a national contest.
Maggie Brogan, a student at Dobbins Elementary, won a statewide contest sponsored by the Ohio Department of Health designed to raise awareness about the deadly gas.
Radon is formed by the natural radioactive decay of uranium in rock and soil. It moves through the ground to the air, and it can damage lung tissue and lead to lung cancer.
Maggie said the most important thing she learned about radon was that “you can’t smell it, see it or taste it.”
Each student in Elaine Morlan’s fourth-grade class had to turn in a poster for a graded homework assignment, and then Morlan sent them all to the Ohio Department of Health.
“In fourth grade we talk about safety, and I tied radon to science and social studies,” Morlan said, adding that she learned of the project from principal Cheryl Borovitcky.
“Many of the students had never heard of radon and wondered what it was,” she said.
A pool of 130 posters was whittled to 30 based on accuracy of content, spelling and grammar. The 30 posters were displayed at the Ohio Department of Health, where employees voted for their favorite.
Radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoking, said Charles D. McCracken, supervisor at the Bureau of Radiation Protection at the Ohio Department of Health.
All Dobbins Elementary students Thursday received an informational guide to radon testing and coupons for free radon test kits.
Maggie’s entry is now part of the 2011 National Radon Poster Contest, and the winner will be announced next month. Maggie also became the first recipient of the Radon Hero award from the Ohio Department of Health.
State Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Canfield, D-33rd, and state Rep. Ron Gerberry of Austintown, D-59th, presented commendations to the youngster on behalf of the Ohio General Assembly.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that radon causes about 21,000 deaths from lung cancer annually in the United States.
The amount of radon in the air is measured in picocuries per liter of air, or pCi/L. Many kinds of low-cost do-it-yourself radon test kits are available in retail outlets, and there are radon professionals for hire, such as Boardman Home Inspection, which gave Maggie an award for her poster. For more information, visit www.epa.gov/radon/radontest.html.