Dangers of Heroin Art Scholarship Contest Winners Announced

From the Will County State's Attorney's Office:

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow is proud to announce the winners in his Dangers of Heroin Art Scholarship Contest.

More than 60 Will County high school students participated in the contest, which awarded valuable college scholarships for the three winners whose artwork best illustrates the horrific consequences of using heroin. The winners are:

• 1st Place, $3,000 Scholarship, Jessica Johnson, Senior, Plainfield Central High School, for her work titled, “Outer Demons”;
• 2nd Place, $2,000 Scholarship, Alexis Smith, Sophomore, Joliet Central High School, “Suffering”;
• 3rd Place, $1,000 Scholarship, Rebecca Kahney, Lincoln-Way Central High School, “Heroin Kills.”

Because the work that was submitted was so great, Glasgow decided during judging that he would create a Runners Up category and award three additional $500 scholarships for three entries he felt should be honored.

The Runners Up winners are: Skylar Bojan, Senior, Lincoln-Way Central High School, “Looking Through the Needle”; JoHannah Ann Eckert, Freshman, Lincoln-Way North High School, “The Needle Lies”; and Kolton J. Skeldon, Senior, Joliet Central High School “Tombsday.”

The winning works will be reproduced and featured prominently in an updated version of Glasgow’s “Gang Awareness and Prevention Book,” scheduled for release later in 2016. The First Place Winner’s work will be placed on the entire back cover of the book.

“The goal of this contest was to enlist high school students to sound a warning for their peers about the heroin scourge that has destroyed so many lives in Will County,” Glasgow said. “I asked students to first educate themselves about the horrendous dangers of using heroin, and then to use their knowledge to create a powerful piece of original artwork to drive home an anti-heroin message. Across the board, the artwork I received exceeded every expectation in terms of quality and thoughtfulness.”

The scholarships for the art contest will be funded through money seized from criminals who were engaged in narcotics trafficking. “I can think of no better way to spend money that otherwise would have been used to pump deadly poison into our streets than to redirect these resources toward an educational campaign aimed directly at eliminating the market for heroin,” Glasgow said.

Fatal heroin overdoses in Will County reached record highs in 2015 and in 2012 at 53 deaths each year. The news is worse for 2016 as Will County Coroner Pat O’Neil reports the county is on a pace to reach as many as 90 heroin-related deaths.

For the past six years, Glasgow has been working with organizations like HERO, HELPS, and the Southwest Coalition for Substance Abuse Issues to coordinate annual heroin education summits that seek solutions to the heroin epidemic.

The Dangers of Heroin Art Scholarship Contest is an outgrowth of Glasgow’s firm belief that to educate and protect our young people requires them to be engaged in our community and involved in the dialogue on important issues.