Chloe Blaylock, a third grader at Elba Elementary School, recently participated in a poster contest and won first place! 
The contest was sponsored by Coffee County’s Emergency Management Agency and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), and all Coffee County children in grades first through sixth grade were encouraged to participate. The theme this year was “Be Disaster Aware, Take Action to Prepare” and this topic focused on taking simple, but life-saving steps to enhance preparedness. 
Some of the procedures included getting an emergency supply kit, making a family emergency plan, being informed about different types of emergencies and getting involved in the community’s prepared efforts. All posters that were submitted are being displayed at the Poster Contest Booth at the Preparedness Fair, and one poster from each grade was selected as the Poster of the Year. 
The prizes were awarded at the fair and Elba Elementary student Chloe Blaylock received numerous prizes including: a first place medallion, a $15 Wal-Mart gift card, a $20 gift card to Firehouse Subs, a $10 gift card to Milky Moo’s, a dessert card to Chick-Fil-A, a free ice cream cone from McDonald’s, and a free dish or cone from Sonic. Blaylock will also receive a certificate from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and it will be presented to her at Elba Elementary School.  
When Chloe found out she won, she exclaimed, “I loves to draw and especially to color. I had a fun time at the Emergency Preparedness Fair (at Henderson Park in Enterprise).”  
She said she was very surprised when the committee called and told her she had won the grand prize for third graders in Coffee County. 
The students from the elementary school thoroughly enjoyed working together with the CERT creating their masterpieces, and are no doubt planning their posters for next year already.