Way to Go: Giovana Improta, Rocky Point

A Rocky Point student is a state winner in a poster contest promoting the importance of online safety.

Giovana Improta, a fifth-grader at Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School, was named the state winner for her grade level in the 2014-15 New York State Kids Safe Online Poster Contest. The competition for students in grades K-12 received more than 1,200 entries from 141 schools statewide.

Giovana's winning illustration featured a large lion's face drawn in crayon with messages written alongside in various colors.

"Roar to an adult when bullied," read one message. Others were "Don't be afraid" and "Speak up!!"

Her poster will be submitted to the National K-12 Poster Contest, which is conducted by the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center. Her submission also may be used in national, regional and state cyber and computer security awareness campaigns, school officials said.

The state contest was sponsored by the Enterprise Information Security Office of the New York State Office of Information Technology Services. The goal was to educate students about cyber safety issues through creation of posters that encourage their peers to use the Internet securely. Criteria in the judging process included creativity, originality, quality, poster concept and adherence to technical specifications.

The school's other fifth-grade entrants received letters and commemorative certificates.