Orange County honors students in decades-old drug-free future contest

Nearly 150 Orange County students were honored at the county Emergency Services Center in Goshen for posters and essays that imagined life through a drug-free future, a yearly contest that officials said has grown into a countywide prevention tradition.

The Alcohol and Drug Awareness Council of Orange County centered this year’s competition on the theme “Picture Your Future Through a Drug-Free Lens.” Educators, officials, families, community members, and supporters filled the ceremony on Friday, May 9, to recognize students whose work reflected the pressure, choices, and hopes that come with growing up in Orange County.

Mary Alice Kovatch, the council’s executive director, said the contest has run for nearly four decades and has become part of the county’s public-health culture. She said former participants have gone on to become designers, authors, judges, and art teachers. One past grand-prize winner is now an art teacher in Port Jervis, and another winner from last year appears on a Family Treatment Court guide for families in treatment, extending the contest’s message beyond the stage in Goshen.

Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus, Sheriff Paul Arteta, and Emergency Services Commissioner Peter Cirigliano attended the ceremony, underscoring the county government’s continuing role in the effort. Lauren Savino, a program educator with STOP DWI, praised the students’ creativity and courage. Neuhaus told students to make the right choices and stay away from drugs, while also reminding families that Orange County’s 3-1-1 line can provide non-emergency help and guidance.

County officials also pointed to the broader support network behind that message. The Orange County Crisis Call Center is available 24/7, is co-located with 911 emergency response, and can connect people to telephone support, assessment, warm connections to services, crisis mobile response, peer support, and referrals through the Orange County Department of Mental Health.

The contest’s reach has continued to expand. In 2024, the council said it drew nearly 1,500 poster submissions and just over 300 essays from nearly 20 schools in more than 10 school districts across Orange County, making it the council’s largest prevention campaign. Posters may be submitted in English or Spanish and can be hand-drawn or digitally designed, and grand-prize posters are printed, framed, and distributed to schools, offices, and businesses throughout the county, keeping the anti-drug message visible long after the awards end.