Mansfield Spanish Immersion School student wins agency billboard contest
April 6, 2017
MANSFIELD -- Micah McPeek, a third-grade student at the Mansfield Spanish Immersion School, won this year's Richland County Children Services billboard contest.
The 9-year-old and his classmates were surprised by agency employees with a pizza party Thursday afternoon at the Euclid Avenue school. He is the son of Julie and Mike McPeek of Mansfield.
His winning entry, selected from more than 250 entries from third-graders around Richland County, will go onto a billboard along Marion Avenue a few blocks away from the school. RCCS employees judged the contest.
The contest was open to any third-grade students in Richland County is done each year in conjunction with National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April.
The theme of this year's contest was "Children Are Our Future."
Micah's entry and the drawings earning the next highest 11 vote totals will also go into the agency's 2017-2018 calendar to be printed in August, distributed for free at the annual county fair.
"We are gratified that the number of entries goes up each year," said Carl Hunnell, the agency's supervisor of community outreach and public information.
"There are many remarkably talented third-grade students in Richland County and it makes the judging difficult," he said.
"We thank every student and teacher who took the time to prepare entries for the contest. Our employees have a good time looking them over and enjoying seeing the children's work," Hunnell said.
Previous winners have come from Lexington, Mansfield Christian and Shelby schools.
