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US Department of Defense
American Forces Press Service


Benning Girl Wins $5,000 YMCA Poster Contest

American Forces Press Service

SPRINGFIELD, Va., Oct. 23, 1998 – Kimberlee Fowler of Fort Benning, Ga., is the elementary school-age winner of the Armed Services YMCA's 1998 poster contest for National Family Week, this year Nov. 22-29.

The nine-year-old is the daughter of Army Sgt. and Mrs. Christopher Fowler of Benning. She is a fourth-grader at the DoD Herbert J. Dexter Elementary School. Her winning art will appear on the YMCA's annual Military Family Week poster, to be distributed globally to military installations in late October.

Fowler will receive a $5,000 U.S. Savings Bond Nov. 7 at a formal dinner in Washington, D.C. Her trip to the capital includes a visit to the Vincent van Gogh exhibit at the National Gallery of Art as the guest of Andersen Consulting, a sponsor of both the art show and the poster contest.

The contest theme was "My Military Family." Many of the entries will be displayed in the Pentagon during Military Family Week.

Five service-level winners will receive $500 U.S. bonds and five runners-up will receive $100 bonds. They are:

  • Army: Winner, James Zadra, 10, son of SSgt. and Mrs. James Zadra, Fort Benning, Ga.; runner-up, William Savoy III, 9, son of Sgt. and Mrs. William Savoy, Fort Knox, Ky.
  • Navy: Winner, Sarah Johnson, 9, daughter of Petty Office 1st Class and Mrs. Craig Parrish, Parris Island, Beaufort, S.C.; runner-up, Jan Oviso, 10, son of Petty Officer 1st Class Arleli Oviso and Manuel Oviso, Twentynine Palms, Calif.
  • Marine Corps: Winner, Lourdes Coleman, 10, daughter of Capt. and Mrs. Keith Coleman, Parris Island, Beaufort, S.C.; Kurstin Strange, 10, daughter of Capt. and Mrs. Kurt Strange, Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, Japan.
  • Air Force: Winner, Joanne Erika Mendoza, 7, daughter of SSgt. and Mrs. Jeffery J. Swifka, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan; runner-up, Jack Schrader, 10, son of Lt. Col. and Mrs. Steve Schrader, Aviano Air Base, Italy.
  • Coast Guard: Winner, Alex Blomme, 7, son of Lt. Cmdr. Andy Blomme and Reserve Lt. Cmdr. Margaret Bloome, U.S. Coast Guard Group Miami; runner-up, Hayden Kimberling, 6, son of Petty Officer 1st Class and Mrs. Thomas Kimberling, U.S. Coast Guard Recruiting Station, Lansing, Mich.

Downloadable copies of the winning drawings are at the Armed Services YMCA Web site, www.asymca.org.