Stacey Gawel with her bus safety poster and her bus driver, Tim Yockel.

Stacey Gawel, a fifth-grader at Bernabi Elementary School in Spencerport, has placed third in a national bus safety poster contest. Stacey says, "I felt surprised, really happy when I won." She says it took a few days and a few drafts to come up with the poster. Her bus driver, Tim Yockel, is proud of Stacey, saying it is the "highlight of my bus driving career."

Stacey was honored in an award ceremony at Bernabi on November 19. Lynn Mullins, from the New York Association for Pupil Transportation's School Bus Safety Poster Contest, presented a certificate to Stacey. Stacey's parents, Bernabi principal Maura Eagle, art teacher Julie Bachman and Spencerport's new director of transportation, Michael Proukou, were present.