PPL Montana employees’ family members among Paint the State contest winners
 |
|
The winning artwork shown here was created
by relatives of PPL Montana employees. |
The PPL Montana “family” was well-represented among the Paint the State contest winners announced Wednesday (8/9) in Helena, Mont.
PPL Montana partnered with the Montana Meth Project as a major sponsor of the art contest, which drew 660 entries from teens across the state. Four relatives of PPL employees were among the contest winners.
“The health and safety of our young people — the next generation of business leaders — is vitally important to PPL Montana,” said Brad Spencer, vice president and chief operating officer. “The quality of life survey that PPL commissioned last year showed methamphetamine abuse is the leading social concern in Montana.
“We need young people like the contest participants who are committed to making a difference, and we applaud them for their efforts to let their peers know that it needs to be ‘Meth — Not Even Once.’ ”
Keanne and Kendra Lambertson, daughters of Sheryl Lambertson, senior power marketer-West for PPL EnergyPlus in Butte, took third place for Silver Bow County in the art contest. Chalee Daugherty, daughter of Sally Daugherty, project analyst at the Colstrip plant, received third place for Rosebud County. Chelsea Clark, sister of Cindy Sanders, manager-Financial Accounting for PPL Montana in Billings, won first place for Beaverhead County and an honorable mention in the statewide competition.
“Our employees also were involved in promoting the contest, recruiting teens and sponsoring project teams,” Spencer said. “We’re proud of the way they pitched in to help.”
The Lambertson girls — Keanne, 16, and Kendra, 14, chose the theme “Meth Shatters Lives” for their artwork, which depicted a face shattered in pieces. They arranged with a local restaurant in Butte to place the art in the window. One of the contest requirements was to have the artwork publicly displayed.
“They did it all on their own,” said Lambertson, who had mentioned the contest to her daughters. “This was a great program and the number of youth in Helena on Wednesday for the award ceremony was encouraging. The Capitol rotunda was packed.”
“The meth project that we did was an awesome experience, and it was a cool thing to reach out to others about meth in our community,” said Keanne. “Meth is a definite problem, and it was touching to be able to be part of getting the message out and showing the side effects of meth.”
“To be honest, we got the idea from a movie,” Kendra added. “That was how it developed, and it kept on getting better. We saw a broken window and it clicked in about how meth shatters your life.”
 |
|
This artwork was created by Chalee Daugherty,
daughter of Sally Daugherty, project analyst
at the Colstrip plant.
|
A child grieving over the loss of parents from meth use is the subject of Chalee's artwork. The 15-year-old illustrated her black and white poster with a tombstone, praying hands, prison bars and handcuffs. She wanted to show how taking meth can impact the family with the mother dead, the father in jail and the child all alone. In addition to a large sign at the corner of Highway 39 and Homestead Boulevard in Colstrip, she placed posters at the IGA, Reid's Lumber, Taylor's Ace Hardware and the Colstrip Post Office.
"Chalee feels this was an excellent opportunity to get the message out about meth and to get youth involved to encourage their peers to abstain from drug use," Daugherty said. Chalee, her mother, father and brother all attended Wednesday's ceremony.
Sanders is proud of her sister, who will be 13 later this month. Chelsea and her friend Amy Bump did the project together, Sanders said. Their artwork, on the lawn of a church in Dillon where Sanders’ family lives, includes small red, black and yellow flags representing the number of students who know someone using meth, are using it themselves or don’t know anyone on meth, respectively. The number of flags in each category was based on a survey they did.
“They worked pretty hard on it over the summer and took a lot of pride not only in the display, but also the information that they gathered and presented,” Sanders said. “I thought it was a very impressive way to visually represent actual information regarding meth in their own community.”
“It was very exciting when the winners were announced. All Amy and I could do was scream,” Chelsea said. She added that the Women’s Resource Center in Dillon was very helpful with the idea for the project and the data gathering.
Montana artist Russell Chatham, who had the honor of selecting the statewide winner, Alexa Audet of Broadwater County, gave Chelsea and her partner honorable mention, saying their project displayed “great creative merit.”
Among the PPL Montana employee volunteers was Sherry Tizono, administrative assistant at the Corette plant, who helped coordinate getting two students’ artwork, “Tell Your Children Not Even Once,” placed on the plant fence. Tizono, who also attended the award ceremony in Helena, said, “I was very touched by the incredible talent and the media these young adults used to express the ‘Not Even Once’ message.”
Helping to promote the Paint the State contest was Mark Zora, manager-End Use Marketing for PPL EnergyPlus in Butte. He distributed posters and worked with local radio stations to have public service announcements aired about the contest. He also served as an information resource for teens who had questions about the competition.
For more information about the awards ceremony, click here. The winning artwork can be viewed on the Montana Meth Project’s Paint the State Web site at www.paintthestate.org.