Joe Zimmerman with the T-shirt he designed.

Joe Zimmerman with the T-shirt he designed.

Joe Zimmerman, a Brookfield fourth grader, was one of two winners of a T-shirt design contest held by Gulland Orthodontics.

Joe received a $250 check, and his design will now be worn by office staff and patients.

Joe’s design shows a baseball, a football and a basketball, all cut in half – in the shape of wide-mouthed smiles – and stacked on top of each other, with the tagline, “SCORE a great smile with Team Gulland Orthodontics.”

When asked how he came up with the design, Joe said, “I don’t know. I like sports.”

Gulland staff members Marketing Director Jennifer Kraynak and Orthodontic Assistant Sarah Scobbie surprised Joe on May 5 by coming to class with a big ceremonial check and wearing T-shirts that he designed.

The staff members wear T-shirts in the office, and give T-shirts away to kids when they get braces.

“We thought it would be a neat idea to have the kids design a T-shirt that they would wear along with us,” Kraynak said.

“We wanted it to be something that kids would want to wear,” Scobbie added.

promoThe office contacted several Ohio and Pennsylvania schools asking them to have students submit entries, and received about 200. 

“There were so many good drawings,” Kraynak said.

The staff reviewed the entries and picked 10 finalists in each age range, kindergarten through grade six and grades seven through 12. Patients who came into Gulland’s offices in Hermitage and Greenville voted over the course of about a week.

Payton Roden of Badger High School won the contest for the older age group.

This was the first time Gulland had held the contest and was happy with the results, from the standpoints of submissions and voting.

“The kids liked being involved, picking a shirt and one that they would wear,” Kraynak said.