Hickory Creek Middle School seventh grade student Madison Kasbaum won First Place in the Fifth Annual Metra Safety Poster Contest. In addition, Chelsea Intermediate School third grade student Caitlin Nelligan won Third Place and Grand Prairie Elementary School was voted as the "Top Participating School" for the second consecutive year.

The annual contest is open to students from grades K-12 in Metra's six-county service area who are invited to submit poster and essay entries highlighting the importance of railroad safety. This year's contest theme was "Safety First: Look, Listen and Live." More than 5,000 student entries were submitted from nearly 250 schools throughout the region.

Madison's poster design will be featured as safety posters and distributed to more than 2,000 schools in Northeastern Illinois. The posters will also be featured in station displays, in Metra's 2012 safety calendar, on monthly tickets and on Metra's contest website and facebook page. She was also honored at a Metra Board of Directors meeting.