RBC | Students from Boulder and Colorado Springs took top honors in this year’s radon awareness poster contest.
Alianna Gaffney from Manhattan Middle School in Boulder won first place out of more than 300 entries. She earns $300 for her submission, entitled “Share Knowledge, Share Awareness.” Her poster will be entered in the National Radon Poster Contest sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Kate Purvis from Skyview Middle School in Colorado Springs earned second-place honors and $200. Ruby Lortie, also from Manhattan Middle School, received third place and $100.
“This contest is a fun way to educate children and encourage residents to test their homes for radon,” said Chrystine Kelley, radon program manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “Radon testing is easy to do, and it’s the only sure way to tell whether or not your home is affected by radon, which occurs naturally in the soil.”
The teachers of the top three students received $100 gift cards as well.
Long-term exposure to radon, a colorless and odorless radioactive gas, is the most frequent cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers and the second-leading cause of lung cancer in smokers. Exposure to radon is responsible for approximately 21,000 lung cancer deaths in the United States each year.
For more information about radon, visit www.coloradoradon.info.
Special to the Herald Times