Thatcher Middle School eighth-grader Jenna Poarch was the first-place winner of the statewide meth-prevention poster contest sponsored by the office of Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.

Another TMS student, Raven Germaine, won an honorable mention for her poster.

The theme was “Not Even Once,” and all contest submissions were required to depict that theme.

Thatcher Middle School eighth-grader Jenna Poarch holds up her state award-winning meth poster. Photo by Diane Saunders

Poarch’s black and white poster depicts strings dangling from the word METH that are attached to girl’s hands and feet — like a marionette puppet. Additional strings are attached to words — fix, control, addiction and death.

Poarch used charcoal, markers and pencils for her poster — a reflection of the somber consequences of using methamphetamines.

“I kind of thought it (meth) can control you like a puppet,” Poarch said of why she chose a puppet as the focal point of her poster.

According to the attorney general’s Web site, 500 seventh- and eighth-grade students submitted posters for the contest.

For her efforts, Poarch won a $500 cash prize plus prizes from Peter Piper Pizza and Harkins Theaters.

As an honorable mention winner, Germaine receive a $25 cash prize. She used pastel colors on her poster that depicts yellow ribbons with the word “CAUTION” in gray letters. She drew a gray banner with the words “METH NOT EVEN ONCE!” written in blue.

TMS Principal Matthew Petersen said students in the school’s life skills contest created posters with the anti-meth message.

“I was pretty pleased that we have two winners,” Petersen said. “It just shows the quality of kids we have at the school.”

Both Poarch and Germaine said they have no plans to pursue careers in art, although Poarch is considering landscape design.

Her mother, Heather Poarch, said her daughter also won the Big Read poster contest at the Safford City-Graham County Library.