Oct 11, 2017 By The 2 min read

Students from several local schools are sharing their artistic abilities in a competition held by the state Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to help promote winter driving safety.

Twelve schools in PennDOT’s District 12, which includes Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties, are competing in the “Paint the Plow” contest. Local schools include Laurel Highlands High School in Fayette County, Yough High School in the Mon Valley area of Westmoreland County, Turkeyfoot Valley High School in Somerset County and Waynesburg Central High School in Greene County.

Students were challenged with painting a snow plow sending the message, “Ice and Snow, take it slow.” The public is then invited to “like” their favorite photo on PennDOT’s Facebook page. The school’s photo with the most likes will win the contest for the county in which the school is located. The painted plows will then be mounted to a plow truck in the area of the school district in which it was created for use during the upcoming winter season.

Voting began on Wednesday and will continue through noon Oct. 17.

“We encourage students and community members alike to go and vote for their favorite plow in this contest,” said District Executive Joseph Szczur in a press release. “The students worked hard on this initiative and we are very proud of their efforts and are looking forward to running the plows in their respective areas throughout this winter season.”

The link to the Facebook page can be found at www.penndot.gov/District12.

According to Raymond Deep, customer relations coordinator for PennDOT’s District 12, this is the first time the local office has offered the contest, and he hopes to see it grow in participation each year. He said the contest helps remind students who are of driving age the importance of safety on the road.

“These are first-time drivers, or they are going to be soon,” she said. “The safety message in the contest is pretty clear. We are all about safety at PennDOT.”