World Rabies Day Poster Competition 2023

World Rabies Day All For 1

Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory announces winners of rabies awareness poster contest

Rabies A Global Public Health Threat – A Call for Unity in One Health

Feb. 16, 2024

MANHATTAN, KANSAS: As part of a campaign to promote rabies awareness in Kansas, the winners of a special poster contest have just been selected. This campaign, launched on World Rabies Day 2023, helps shed light on the relentless battle against rabies, an ongoing global public health threat. The mission to get the word out about rabies and to increase knowledge of the potential for wildlife rabies reservoirs to transmit the disease to humans and pets became the theme of a creative poster competition for school children in Kansas, as promoted by the K-State Rabies Laboratory and several partners.

“This was a tremendous collaborative effort, and we were fortunate to receive 297 completed entries from 30 schools across 23 counties in Kansas,” said Dr. Janine Seetahal, Director of the Rabies Laboratory at Kansas State University. “The official 2023 theme of World Rabies Day was ‘All for One and One Health for All’ reflective of the fact that rabies control and prevention is not just the responsibility of one sector over the other. Hence our judging panel comprised of representatives from the veterinary, human health and environmental sectors. We collectively judged each of the entries using standard parameters including message clarity, information accuracy, visual appeal, originality and overall impact to obtain the winners. However, we would like to acknowledge what a difficult task this was due to high quality of all the entries and great efforts put forward by the kids, we greatly thank all the students, teachers and schools for their wonderful submissions.”

The poster competition was open to Kansas students in K-12, with prizes being awarded to participating schools and students in four grade-level categories. This year’s recipients are from the following schools:

Kindergarten-2nd grade

1st Place
Hudson Curtis
Teacher/Principal: Beth Neitzel
2nd grade, Bluemont Elementary, Manhattan, Kansas

2nd Place
Charlotte White
Teacher/Principal: Felicia Cox
2nd grade, Spring Valley Elementary School, Junction City, Kansas

Special Mentions
Sophia Adame
Teacher/Principal: Felicia Cox
2nd grade, Spring Valley Elementary School, Junction City, Kansas

Aria Heard
Teacher/Principal: Paula Charleston
Kindergarten, Fort Riley Elementary School, Fort Riley, Kansas

3rd-5th grade

1st Place
Abigail Wolfer
Teacher/Principal: Lauren Niccum
5th grade, Manchester Park Elementary School, Lenexa, Kansas

2nd Place
Clementine Kuchera
Teacher/Principal: Kylie Henkelman
5th grade, Quinter Elementary School, Quinter Kansas

Special Mentions
Alayna McLain
Teacher/Principal: Tiffany Zink
5th grade, Central Elementary School, Lyons, Kansas

Karol Carreno
Teacher/Principal: Tiffany Zink
5th grade, Central Elementary School, Lyons, Kansas

6th-8th grade

1st Place
Lauren Schmitt
Teacher/Principal: Athena Sullivan
6th grade, Blue Valley Middle School, Stilwell, Kansas

2nd Place
Addyson Moore
Teacher/Principal: Brian Williams
8th grade, Great Bend Middle School, Great Bend, Kansas

Special Mentions
Jack Levit
Teacher/Principal: Erika Kjorlie Geery
7th grade, Raintree Montessori School, Lawrence, Kansas

Aliza Tracy
Teacher/Principal: Jennifer Haynes
8th grade, Doniphan West Jr/Sr High, Highland, Kansas

9th-12th grade

1st Place
Gwen Joyce
Teacher/Principal: Evan Brandt and Dave Ewers
12th grade, Shawnee Mission North High, Overland Park, Kansas

2nd Place
Andrew Heinlein
Teacher/Principal: Laura Findahl
9th grade, Columbus Unified High School, Columbus, Kansas

Special Mentions
Liliana Avendano
Teacher/Principal: Katie Morris
10th grade, Holton High School, Holton, Kansas

Hailey Tracy
Teacher/Principal Jennifer Haynes
10th grade, Doniphan West Jr/Sr High, Highland, Kansas

Congratulations to the winners! Images of all the winning posters have been uploaded to the K-State Rabies Lab website.

The K-State Rabies Lab thanks its partners on the poster contest: Bavarian Nordic, the Kansas Department of Health and the Environment, the One Health Commission Bat Rabies Education Team and K-State Extension Wildlife Management.

About the Kansas State Rabies Laboratory

The Kansas State Rabies Laboratory is an internationally recognized laboratory facility dedicated to rabies virus diagnosis, serological testing and research towards the prevention of rabies from various angles. It collaborates with local, national, and international partners to contribute to the global effort to control rabies.

About World Rabies Day

World Rabies Day is an event observed each year on Sept. 28, to raise awareness about rabies prevention and to highlight the One Health approach in combating this deadly disease. It is a global initiative supported by organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC). For more information about the World Rabies Day Global Initiative and the worldwide efforts in rabies prevention and control, please visit the Global Health Alliance For Rabies Control.

 

 

 

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