State, corporate reps award Butgereit, McDowell and McGinnis for Create Real Impact

Bob Jones students Mary Butgereit, Megan McDowell and Kaitlyn McGinnis hold a $1,500 check from the Create Real Impact contest. The award ceremony included assistant principal John Wilson, from left, AEA District Director Beverly Sims, multimedia instructor Brandy Panagos, interim assistant principal Shane Jones and California Casualty representative Jennifer Kremer. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Mary Butgereit, Megan McDowell and Kaitlyn McGinnis have received personal incentive, along with cash for their school, after entering a national contest.Students at Bob Jones High School, Butgereit, McDowell and McGinnis entered the national Create Real Impact contest. Open to 14- to 22-year-olds, the contest underscores the dangers of distracted driving and poor decision making by augmenting public awareness.

Bob Jones received $1,500 for the 50-plus entries in the Create Real Impact contest. Contestants entered music, art, video and writing submissions (createrealimpact.com).

On Dec. 12, Jennifer Kremer from California Casualty Company and Beverly Sims, district director with the Alabama Education Association, visited Bob Jones to deliver cash prizes to Butgereit, McDowell and McGinnis.

Butgereit was grand prize winner with $1,500. Butgereit’s artwork challenged people to think practically about the reality of distracted driving.

“People underestimate the issue,” Butgereit said. “Going 40 mph, if you look away for three seconds to check your phone or whatever, you travel about 174 feet. That’s half a football field.”

In creative writing, Megan McDowell earned $250 for an honorable mention. McDowell’s true, first-person account told about the car accident involving her father and 10-year-old sister that was caused by districted driving.

McDowell wrote that her sister Dani’s “hair was matted, her face cut up and burnt, and blood was dripping from her face onto her clothes … but she was alive.”

McGinnis produced a video that received an honorable mention and $250. She told her personal story of barely surviving an automobile accident that involved districted driving.

In her video, McGinnis encouraged students to drive safely. Bob Jones students selected McGinnis as 2013 Patriot Homecoming Queen.

Brandy Panagos, who teaches multimedia design and publication and Writer’s Studio, encouraged students to enter the contest.

Students in all 50 states and the District Of Columbia can enter Create Real Impact. The Impact Teen Drivers Fund sponsors the contest.