Pleasant Gap student a winner in antibullying-themed design contest

Elijah Davis said it only took him about 10 minutes to come up with a T-shirt design idea that helped make him a winner in a local T-shirt design contest. He said the idea came to him just before an orthodontist appointment this fall. The Pleasant Gap Elementary School fifth-grade student in Jen Roth’s class was one of 47 students who participated in the inaugural T-shirt design contest through State College Orthodontics. The theme this year was all about preventing bullying and encouraged students to create a design around that theme. Elijah’s T-shirt design included the phrase, “Labels are food, not people.” In the middle of the shirt also included a jar of peanut butter with an additional phrase, “Don’t be a nut, make people feel butter.” The clever play on words helped crown him a winner of the contest with two other students from Gray’s Woods Elementary School of the State College Area School District. Because he won, State College Orthodontics had T-shirts with Elijah’s design made for every student in his class and had an afternoon pizza party to celebrate. State College Orthodontics marketing coordinator Sheridan Sheehan said the office came up with the T-shirt design contest to help promote antibullying. “Kids can really embrace this and it was a way to make it a more inclusive (activity),” she said.