Montgomery County Students Honored for Underage Drinking Prevention Efforts

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Youth gathered at the Montgomery County Public Safety Headquarters building today for an awards ceremony honoring 31 Montgomery County middle and high school students who won a student video contest.  

The awards were hosted by Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger, Department of Liquor Control (DLC) Director Robert Dorfman and the Keeping It Safe (KIS) Coalition on the Prevention of Under 21 Alcohol Use. 

Founded in 1992, KIS is a coalition of County departments, local organizations and concerned residents that work to deter underage alcohol use and reduce access of alcohol to youth. With the recent retirement of the long time KIS Coalition coordinator, Meg Baker, the DLC stepped in to manage programming. 

“We’re happy to support this program in any way that we can. Peer messaging is an important piece to the overall prevention of underage alcohol use. Kids need to hear positive messages from other kids,” said Dorfman.

The program reaches out to middle and high schools within Montgomery County with a competition to come up with a 30-second public service announcement with an underage drinking prevention message. This year, 24 student groups entered the contest. Seven winning videos were honored with cash prizes, made out to the schools, trophies and award certificates. 

The winners include:

High School:

• Montgomery Blair High School - 1st place - $1,000 and a trophy
• Northwood High School - 2nd place - $500 and a trophy
• Montgomery Blair High School - 3rd place - $250 and a certificate
• Albert Einstein High School - 4th place - $100 and a certificate

Middle School:

• Roberto Clemente Middle School -1st place - $500 and a trophy
• Roberto Clemente Middle School- 2nd place - $250 and a trophy
• Washington Christian Academy – 3rd place - $100 and a certificate

All students received personal honorable mention certificates for their efforts.

The program was funded by a grant held by the DLC from the Montgomery County Police Red Light Camera fund.

The winning videos will be distributed to schools, posted on YouTube and broadcast on several local television channels. For more information about the KIS coalition, and to view the winning videos, visit the KIS website here.

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Release ID: 18-520
Media Contact: Emily DeTitta 240-777-1904