Staff writer
Like many typical nine-year-olds, Timothy Schrag of Goessel loves building Legos, riding his bicycle, and drawing, among other things, but the Goessel third-grader recently gained a new appreciation for dentists. Schrag participated in a dental poster contest sponsored by Hesston Dentistry and learned Monday that, as the first place winner, he now has a $150 gift card to spend at Wal-Mart.
“He is pretty excited about this,” Schrag’s father, Eric Schrag said. “He would like to get more Legos to build with his twin brother, Jacob, or he might put some money toward a new bicycle. He is still contemplating the options.”
Nicole Dillner said Hesston Dentistry sponsored the dental health poster contest every year and invited third-grade students from schools in Harvey, Marion, and McPherson counties to enter. Each year different schools were chosen to participate.
“This year we had 250 entries from Hesston and Goessel, so picking a winner was difficult,” Dillner said. “We thought Timothy did a good job making everything in his poster relate to the theme from the American Dental Association. He listened to the rules and applied that to his poster very well. That is why his work was chosen.”
Schrag’s third grade teacher at Goessel, Allison Krehbiel, said this was the first year Goessel participated in the contest.
“These poster contests are a good way for the students to make a plan of action and follow it through,” she said. “Timothy is always very conscientious about his work and very creative too. I am not at all surprised he won first place.”
Schrag used the message “get a gold medal smile,” to convey that children should brush their teeth every day. Eric Schrag said Timothy’s twin brother made a very similar poster and that the two boys thought a lot alike, but only one spelled ‘medal’ correctly.
“I’m sure they will share the prize,” he said. “That’s just how they are.”