Houston fifth-grader wins
national Tar Wars poster contest

After winning the grand prize in the Texas Tar Wars poster contest, fifth-grader Juan Elizondo of Houston won first place in the 2012 Tar Wars national poster contest in July with his poster, “Blow Bubbles Not Smoke.” The contest is held each summer during the annual Tar Wars National Conference and represents the culmination of the AAFP’s school-based tobacco-free education program. Students from around the country illustrate their tobacco-free message and compete in the poster contest.

Family physicians and other health care professionals present Tar Wars—AAFP’s tobacco-free education program—every year to fourth- and fifth-graders. After physicians present the Tar Wars curriculum in school classrooms, students are encouraged to create posters conveying the positive aspects of being tobacco-free.

The program provides students with the tools to make positive health decisions and promote personal responsibility for their own well-being. More than 8 million children have seen the presentations since the program’s inception in 1988. Texas Tar Wars is the statewide education program to prevent tobacco use among children. Tar Wars is supported in part by the AAFP Foundation. For more on Tar Wars, go to www.tarwars.org.