Published: April 25, 2009 01:47 am      

PEOPLE PROFILE: Laura Cummings, poster contest winner

Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

GASPORT — Five-year-old Laura Cummings loves to draw. Sometime next month, people passing by Canal Road on Route 31 can see a piece of her work.

A Gasport resident, Cummings recently won fourth place in the seventh annual American Society of Safety Engineers “Safety on the Job” poster contest for kids in the ages 5-6 category. The winning posters were selected from five age groups between the ages of 5 through 14 and are featured on the North American Occupational Safety and Health Week 2009 poster. Those posters are distributed worldwide as part of the NAOSH Week, May 3 through 9, and Occupational Safety and Health Professional Day on May 6.

Oh, and Laura’s winning picture will be on a billboard facing east along Route 31 by Canal Road in Gasport. Lamar Outdoor Advertising has donated billboard space to feature the winning ASSE posters and runners up in locations throughout the U.S.

Laura’s parents, Dale and Rebecca, said they are proud of her. Laura’s poster, “Put Your Safety Glasses On,” depicts her father, Dale, at work.

“She drew a picture of me cutting some wood without safety glasses,” Dale Cummings said. “She is in telling me to put my safety glasses on.”

Dale Cummings said Laura loves to draw, often drawing things and people she comes in contact with. But she doesn’t like using crayons or markers, Rebecca Cummings said.

“Yeah, just those,” Laura said, when asked if she likes using colored pencils.

ASSE Member Jack Cummings, Laura’s uncle, sponsored her. He was the one who told the Cummingses about the contest. Kids had to draw their poster on an 11-by-14-inch piece of cardboard and submit it.

Then the family got the call in late February that Laura was a winner.

Laura loves drawing and she loves school. She is in kindergarten and is home-schooled by her mother, a former schoolteacher. Laura is also involved with Sunday School and loves to sing at her church, Grace Baptist in Medina.

In addition to the billboard, Laura wins a $200 savings bond. Along with all the poster contest winners and entrants, she will be recognized at the NAOSH 2009 national kickoff events May 4 in Washington, D.C., at the U.S. Department of Labor and during the ASSE awards ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.

There are a number of organizations and businesses participating in the events, including ASSE, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering officials and OSHA Alliance members representing more than 150,000 businesses.

There also will be a May 3 brunch at the U.S. National Zoo in Washington, D.C., for poster winners, participants, their families and ASSE members, hosted by ASSE’s Region III.

Those eligible for the contest were ASSE members’ children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, as well as member-sponsored schools and organizations. The contest goal is to teach the importance of worker safety to kids at an early age.

Contact reporter

Joe Olenick

at 439-9222, ext. 6241.