Donna Gagliardi, Art Teacher, left, Vatsal Bandaru, State Winner, and Julia Horne, Shelter Rock Elementary School principa are photographed together. Vatsal is a fifth grader at Shelter Rock who won the 31st annual Connecticut Fire Prevention Poster Contest. Contributed photo
DANBURY — A Shelter Rock School student is the winner of the 31st annual Connecticut Fire Prevention Poster Contest.
With an angry “fire face” and the words “I’m not a toy,” Vatsal Bandaru was the winner in the fifth-grade category.
The program has between 25,000 and 30,000 fourth- and fifth-grade participants every year.
Posters are first judged at a local level, then the two winning posters from each grade face a set of judges for the county winners and then for a state winner. This is the first time Danbury had a state winner, Fire Marshal James Russell said.
“It really teaches the kids not only about doing art, but about fire prevention, which is the purpose of this program,” he said. “A lot of learning goes on when these posters are being done.
The program is run by the Connecticut Fair Plan, the Connecticut Board of Education, the Connecticut Fire Marshal’s Association and the Connecticut Fire Chief’s Association.
Bandaru received $900 and the school received a $500 grant.