First Posted: 1/27/2015
CLARKS SUMMIT — When Shannon Baransky, an eighth-grade student at Abington Heights Middle School, got the phone call saying she won first place in the PPL Bright Ideas Poster Contest, she said she started “freaking out.”
Needless to say, she was excited.
“I worked really hard on this,” she said. “And I was happy when I found out that I won.”
Shannon is a daughter of Blanche and Andrew Baransky, of Clarks Summit.
The prompt for the contest, which she entered in the fall, was to create a poster that illustrates ways people can conserve energy. She said one thing she most enjoyed about the project was researching the topic of energy efficiency and coming up with ways to incorporate those findings into her artwork.
Tara Crum, substitute art teacher for the year at Abington Heights Middle School, said she was impressed with the 14-year-old’s willingness and dedication to take on the extra project, research and all.
“She’s passionate about it,” Crum said. “She’s a wonderful artist and she has a great eye.”
Shannon said what she enjoys most about art class is “being creative and being able to express [her]self through [her] art.”
First-place winnings for the contest include a $500 cash prize to Shannon, a $500 grant to the school’s art department and a pizza party, which was shared among Shannon’s classmates on Jan. 27. National Energy Foundation Program Administrator Tiffany Foland attended on behalf of PPL to present an award certificate and congratulate the winner on her work.