For this ninth-grader, a small sketch during class led to a nice paycheck.

Serena Okamoto was awarded $100 for a winning poster entry promoting the Sequim Education Foundation Egg Drop Competition, an event slated for next school year.

Okamoto's poster design was one of many entries received from students in each of

Sequim's five public schools. The contest was open to all students in grades K-12

"I didn't think I would win," Okamoto said. "It was just a sketch I did in class."

When asked what she would do with the money, she said, "I'm going to put it into my college savings account."

The foundation's Egg Drop Competition, scheduled for Oct. 4, is the foundation's first of what board directors hope is an annual engineering challenge, says SEF director Kathy Schock. The competition is open to all Sequim public school students. Contestants will be called upon to design and build a package that will enable a large, uncooked chicken egg to survive a 30-foot fall when dropped onto a target. Entries will be judged on projectile accuracy, package weight and number of pieces in its construction as well as egg survivability. Scholarship and cash prizes will be awarded to winners at elementary, middle and high school levels.

Schock said Okamoto's design is to be printed on posters,

T-shirts and handbills to promote the new egg drop event.

"The purpose of this annual problem-solving challenge is to motivate students to finish high school, to stimulate their interest in science and mathematics and to encourage them to pursue careers in the many fields of engineering," foundation president Dick Hughes said.

The Sequim Education Foundation is a nonprofit public charity established to inspire Sequim public school students to succeed in all areas of their lives. An unpaid volunteer board of directors manages the foundation.

For information about the foundation, call Hughes at 460-7465 or go to the SEF Web site www.sequimeducation

foundation.org.