Johana Gracia, a Fillmore Middle Middle School student, has taken the first step to becoming a state wide recognized artist by winning the local competition sponsored by the Fillmore Lions Club. This year's theme was “Children Know Peace”. Johana’s work was selected from the work of students in Mrs. Doris Nichols' art classes, supervised this year by Mr. Eddie Angel.

Johana’s poster has been forwarded to the local Lions District for further competition in California. Her creation will be one of over 370,000 posters in the United States. Each are seeking the Grand Prize of $5,000. There will be 22 merit winners who will receive a cash award of $500.

The runner-ups were Grisele Castro and Christiana Del La Mora. Johana received $25 as the winner and Grisele and Christiana received $15. Judges Colleen Chandler and Ken Mittan were impressed by the many fine posters submitted. They also want to encourage all students to participate again next year.