Anna Van Wyk, a fourth-grader at
Woodland Elementary in Eagan, is the winner of the 2007
Minnesota Tar Wars Poster Contest. Her poster, which states
‘Smoking is Toadally Not Cool,’ shows a toad sitting on a lily
pad. Posters were judged on artistry, creativity, originality
and their ability to communicate a clear POSITIVE message to
remain tobacco-free. Van Wyk’s poster will now advance to the
National Tar Wars Poster Contest to be held this July in
Washington, D.C.
The Tar Wars program is taught by family physicians, family
medicine residents, medical students and other health care
professional who join together to address the issue of
youth-targeted marketing and access to tobacco. These
volunteers go into classrooms across the state and share the Tar
Wars message. The program is filled with fun and interactive
lessons focusing on the long and short-term effects of tobacco
use, image-based effects of tobacco use and reasons people use
tobacco.
For her efforts, Van Wyk and one
adult family member will be awarded a trip to Washington, D.C.,
to participate in the National Tar Wars Poster Contest. The
prize is made possible thanks to a generous donation from the
United Hospital Foundation.
The posters were judged by more than 400 family physicians
during the Minnesota Academy of Family Physician’s Spring
Refresher on April 19-20, 2007. Second place went to Gunnar
Ewert from Scandia Elementary in Scandia and third place went
to Paige Upham of South Point Elementary in East Grand Forks.
Tar Wars was developed in 1988
by the Hall of Life at the Denver Museum of Natural History and
Doctors Ought to Care (DOC). It has been implemented in 50
states and is owned and operated by the American Academy of
Family Physicians. Tar Wars was introduced in Minnesota during
the 1996-97 school year. The program reaches close to 400,000
children nationally and internationally each year.
