Georgia middle-schooler Huyen Pham wins National School Bus Safety Poster Contest

MEDIA CONTACT: Meghan Frick, GaDOE Communications Office, mfrick@doe.k12.ga.us

August 23, 2021 – A Georgia student has been selected as the winner of the 2020-2021 National School Bus Safety Poster Contest, the American School Bus Council (ASBC) announced last week.

Huyen Pham, a student at Northbrook Middle School in Gwinnett County Public Schools, created the winning poster for this year's theme: “Be Safe – Know the Danger Zone."

Image of the student’s artwork showing three views of a school bus and the danger zone around the bus. The image is titled “Divi

The danger zone is the area outside a school bus where children are in the most danger of being hit, either by another vehicle or their own bus. The danger zone extends 12 feet from the front bumper, from the left and right sides of the bus, and behind the rear bumper of the school bus. In addition, the area to the left of the driver's seat is always considered dangerous because of passing vehicles.

“I wish to congratulate Huyen Pham and thank her for representing the state of Georgia so well on the national level – and for drawing attention to the important issue of school bus safety," State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “Each day Georgia's school transportation employees work hard to ensure students' safety as they travel to and from school – as Georgians, we can all partner together to ensure all students are safe on the road."

The state-level contest is sponsored by the Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation (GAPT).

“Coming off a very challenging year, we would like to congratulate all participants in our GAPT-sponsored school bus safety poster contest," said Pat Schofill, GaDOE Director of Facilities Services and Pupil Transportation. “Our statewide contest is an opportunity for local school systems to focus on school bus safety through art. For Huyen to receive the award as overall winner in the National School Bus Safety Poster Contest is awesome. We are extremely proud for her, her teacher, and Gwinnett County Public Schools."

Pham's artwork will be showcased during this year's National School Bus Safety Week, October 18-22, 2021. The theme for the 2021-2022 poster contest is “1 bus + 1 driver = a BIG Impact on Education" and poster guidelines and contest rules can be found here.