Mansfield High School has won five Project Ignition grants in six years
North Little Rock, AR June 7, 2012 - Mansfield High School has been selected through a competitive process as one of this year’s Top Ten Project Ignition campaigns from across the United States and Canada.
Since 2006, Students at Mansfield High School have been relentless in working to reduce risky driving behaviors that lead to motor vehicle crashes, the number one killer of teens. Earlier this year, Mansfieldwas awarded its fifth $2,000 Project Ignition grant to implement their 2011-2012 “On My Honor” teen driversafety education campaign. Only one school in the nation, Branchville High in South Carolina, has won the grant more times (six) than Mansfield. Now, based on their 2011-2012 efforts, the Mansfield project was named as a national top ten campaign.
Project Ignition is a service-learning program sponsored by State Farm® and coordinated by the National Youth Leadership Council®, based in St. Paul, MN. The focus of the program is to involve student-led teams in developing driving and auto travel safety campaigns in their schools and local communities.
As a top ten campaign winner, the Mansfield Project Ignition team will receive an additional $5,000 to support their participation in the National Service-Learning Conference® in the spring of 2013 in Denver, CO. In addition, they are also eligible for a $2,500 grant to implement a year-long project during the next school year. Annette Smith is the faculty advisor for this year’s Project Ignition team. Natalie Tolbert and Sam Slott were previous Mansfield faculty members with $2000 grant winning teams.
Mansfield High’s Project Ignition efforts were pushed to action by the death of a friend. The school project student-led team has brought greater auto safety awareness to the community as a whole. Posters, banners, bumper stickers, and information for parents were utilized. Parents were targeted after the results of a survey showed that many students watched parents drive while doing things that they considered unsafe.
Mansfield High School principal, Tina Smith said, “Awareness and sustained education regarding safe driving behaviors are such important initiatives in today’s high school culture. I am grateful to State Farm and the National Youth Leadership Council for funding this important grant which will have a lasting impact on our campus.”
Speaking for State Farm, spokesman Gary Stephenson of North Little Rock said, “I can’t say enough about Mansfield’s efforts over the years in its teen driver safety efforts. They have been a national Top 25 school five times, and it’s very pleasing to see them now named as a national top ten school on this issue.”
For more information visit: www.sfprojectignition.com
Gary Stephenson, Public Affairs Specialist, (501) 615-6004.
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