MassDOT Accepting Entries for Annual High School Video Contest

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BOSTON, Mass. — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has announced entries are now being accepted for the ninth annual statewide high school video contest: Safe Streets Smart Trips. 

The contest, which began in 2014, encourages high school students to showcase their understanding of roadway safety across all travel modes to try to decrease pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and fatalities. The contest serves as an initiative of the Massachusetts Strategic Highway Safety Plan to promote safe walking, bicycling, and driving behaviors within the Commonwealth.

"We look forward to seeing the videos created by high school students that will help raise awareness about how to stay safe when walking, bicycling, and driving," said Transportation Secretary and CEO Jamey Tesler. "Each year, students from across the state have used humor, facts, and real-life incidents to underscore how all of us have to put safety first and do our part to reduce injuries and deaths on the roadways."

The video contest, which is open to all Massachusetts public high school students, features a Freshman/Sophomore category and Junior/Senior category. Per contest guidelines, this year students are being asked to write and produce a 30-60 second video that focuses on interpreting the various signs and pavement markings that are on roadways and in school zones and explaining their meaning.

There are countless roadway signs and pavement markings that drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists encounter every day. Some signs are meant for school zones, while others are bike and pedestrian related. It is important to remind everyone of the importance of these signs and pavement markings and what they mean.

Complete contest guidelines can be found at Mass.gov/roadway-safety-video. All applications are due by 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 9.

MassDOT will host a virtual informational session for educators on Tuesday, September 6, to help answer any contest questions. Educators and students can register for the informational session at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvfu-prj0oE9GDv4-DREBir6n0GN15IaD8.

Grand prize, runner-up, and honorable mention videos in each category (Freshman/Sophomore and Junior/Senior) will be chosen by a MassDOT panel. Winning videos will be shown November 1, 2022, at MassDOT’s annual active transportation conference, Moving Together, where the creators will receive their prizes including $600 Amazon gift cards for the grand prize videos and $300 Amazon gift cards for the runner-up videos. Top videos may also be used in future safety campaigns.

To learn more about the Safe Streets Smart Trips high school video contest visit: Mass.gov/roadway-safety-video or call 857-383-3807.

To register for the Safe Streets Smart Trips Information Session: visit:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwud-mtqzIpHNINJusPQxIK953YmvdGz0yn

For transportation news and updates, visit the MassDOT website: www.mass.gov/massdot, blog: www.mass.gov/blog/transportation, or follow MassDOT on Twitter at www.twitter.com/massdot.


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Letter: Cancer Survivor Month

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

June has a special significance for members of our community: it's the start of summer, end of school for students and teachers, and at the Phelps Cancer Center, we celebrate National Cancer Survivor Month.

As the medical director of the Phelps Cancer Center, I'm also proud to be marking the 10-year anniversary of the center's opening in 2014 and the progress we have made in delivering cutting-edge treatments and therapies to cancer patients here in Berkshire County for a full decade.

Being a cancer survivor myself, I know how a diagnosis changes your life. I hope that we never have to care for you or for your loved ones, but I want you to know that, if you need us, you will be able to receive world-class care, close to home at the Phelps Cancer Center. We provide the highest quality, personalized cancer care, including integrative health programs that support a patient's body, mind, and spirit. We are also proud to be the only Western Massachusetts member of the Dana-Farber Cancer Care Collaborative, giving our patients access to cutting-edge trials and Dana-Farber specialists for advanced care.

It is my greatest honor to care for patients in Berkshire County — the community I grew up in and still call home. Thank you to all of the providers, clinicians, and healthcare staff at the Phelps Cancer Center and Berkshire Health Systems who make this a community where a cancer diagnosis is marked by compassion and caring and no one has to make their journey alone.

Dr. Trevor Bayliss
Pittsfield, Mass.

 

 

 

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