West High students design campaign to slow down drivers near schools

A group of students at Western Hills University High School recently unveiled a billboard across the street from their campus – the centerpiece of a student-led campaign urging drivers to slow down and pay attention near schools.

Students in Jeffrey Demaree’s class at West High created the Pedestrian Safety Project, which earned top honors at School Board School’s Education Pitch Night earlier this year. With help from Cincinnati Public Schools and Huenited Collective – a local nonprofit made up of creative industry professionals – the students turned their idea into a full public safety campaign, complete with billboard artwork and radio ads now under consideration for wider release.

The billboard reads: “Focus on the road. Focus on our future” as a student walks across an intersection near a school. The picture then fades into a graduation stage, with the student wearing a cap and gown.

“For me, this is personal,” said senior Moriah Harper, who helped lead the campaign. “My mother was run over and dragged by a car. She survived, but her life completely changed. I want people to know — this can happen to anyone.”

A student-led community push

The campaign took off after students presented it to Cincinnati City Council in December, asking for support and funding. With backing from CPS and professional guidance from Huenited, they refined their message and produced a polished set of creative materials.

“This didn’t start as a class project. It started with students upset after one of their classmates was hit by a car,” said Demaree, who teaches history and geography at West High on Ferguson Road. “They wanted to do something and once they realized they could lead the change, they never looked back.”

The billboard’s location – just steps from the school’s football field – reflects the students’ desire to make an immediate, visible impact in their own neighborhood.

CPS officials say the project reflects the kind of real-world learning they aim to foster across the district.

“This is an outstanding example of what happens when we trust students with real-world challenges and support them with the tools to lead,” said Superintendent Shauna Murphy. “These students turned a community safety concern into an impressive, student-driven campaign that has the potential to save lives.”

Tysonn Betts, co-founder of Huenited, said the project provided the students an opportunity to “learning how to lead.”

“Watching these students take an idea from conversation to community impact is exactly why we exist,” he said. “They’re not just learning design or strategy; they’re learning how to lead, how to collaborate and how to create something that can make a difference.”

Now, the students are pushing to expand the campaign to other CPS schools and eventually beyond the district.

“I don’t want this to be one and done,” Harper said. “We’ve seen what’s possible.”