The Winning Clean Air Cling design was created by Windham High School sophomore Maggie Soule. Rory Sweeting / Lakes Region Weekly
Margaret "Maggie" Soule, a Windham High School sophomore, won a contest to design a "clean air cling" that will be distributed throughout Windham and Raymond as part of a larger anti-smoking campaign.
This contest was the culmination of a Clean Air Campaign organized by Be the Influence, a Windham-based organization focused on preventing substance abuse among young people, with particular focus on alcohol, tobacco and marijuana. According to Director Patrice Leary-Forrey, Be the Influence is funded through Drug Free Communities, a federal grant program that gives communities up to $125,000 a year in funding to combat youth substance use.
Leary-Forrey said that Be the Influence is in the final year of a 10-year DFC grant, and is focusing on a year-long Clean Air Campaign, which seeks to promote smoke-free policies throughout Windham and Raymond. This campaign was born out of a conversation with the students of Windham High School around wanting to maintain clean air in community spaces such as schools, parks and outdoor recreation areas, she said.
"It's all about clean air in the community," said Leary-Forrey, "clean air indoors, outdoors, and policy changes to reflect no tobacco and marijuana in public spaces."
The Clean Air Campaign's greatest accomplishment thus far has been passing an ordinance to change signs in Windham and Raymond's public parks to more explicitly ban a wider range of substances. While previous signs stated "No Smoke, No Tobacco," Be the Influence pushed to have the signs specify that the smoking ban also covered vaping and cannabis. The Town Council unanimously approved the new wording on signs in November. From there, the town had 30 days to make sign changes in all public spaces, though Leary-Forrey said that she believed it might take a bit longer due to the holiday break.
The clean air cling art contest, which took place in November, saw 26 RSU 14 students, ranging in age from preschool to high school, submit artwork for a window cling that would promote healthy air. Explaining how the contest was tailored for all ages, Leary-Forrey said that prompts for younger students did not directly relate to the issue of smoking, but rather were more along the lines of "What do you want your playground to look like?"
From there a jury of three adults and two youth selected Soule's piece to represent the Clean Air Campaign.
When asked what had inspired her winning design, Soule told the Lakes Region Weekly, "Honestly, I just drew the first thing that came to mind. I was inspired by the feeling of fresh air on a morning walk and ... I was surprised to win."
With the design chosen, the Clean Air Campaign embarked on the second phase of their project: the distribution of the cling across Windham and Raymond. Leary-Forrey said that the clings will be distributed at the town offices in Windham and Raymond for residents to take and put on their windows if they want their home or car to be smoke-free. The towns' recreation departments will also be distributing them this summer at Tassel Top Park in Raymond and Dundee Park in Windham.
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