Rye High School students continue to impress us with their submissions to the Distracted Walking and Driving Poster Contest.

Rye High School students continue to impress us with their submissions to the Distracted Walking and Driving Poster Contest. The works of 74 students created in four digital photography classes were on display at the January 14 opening reception at the Rye Free Reading Room — and they created lots of safety awareness buzz.

The Heads Up! contest, now in its 4th year, is co-sponsored by the Rye YMCA and The Safe Routes to School Committee and receives support from the Rye Police Association and United Way of Westchester and Putnam.

At the opening, Rye Y Executive Director Gregg Howells remarked, “The event continues to be a priority for us among our Healthier Communities Initiatives. The message from the students gets stronger every year.”

RHS Art teacher Nichole Chiffriller said students continue to surprise her. “There was a wider range of creative responses this year.”

It was hard to choose the winners, but a seven-member panel of judges that included Howells; Lt. Robert Falk and Lt. Scott Craig of the Rye Police Department; City Planner Christian Miller; County Planner Charles Sutter; Lucy Cassidy of the Safe Routes Committee; Rye Art Center Art School Director Adam Levi; and Mayor Joe Sack made the final selection after students narrowed the field to 28 finalists.

There was a three-way tie for first place. Noe Abe message was: “Your Focus Is Where Your Eyes Are;” Caroline Costa and Julia Mackey teamed up to stress that “It’s a Two-Way Street”, pedestrians must be as aware of their surroundings as drivers. Second-place winner Cayla Brown created a startling image of multi-layered shattered glass. Samuel Rukeyser, who won third place, also took a serious approach to demonstrating the dangers of distraction.