Twelve-year-old Karissa Vasconi had nearly forgotten about the anti-teen-drinking poster she had done in her sixth grade gym class.

But last month, Karissa, now a seventh-grader at Sharpsville Middle School, received a letter from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board stating her poster was one of 90 selected out of 1,200 for further recognition.

As part of the recognition, Karissa and the other students whose posters were selected were invited to attend a ceremony Tuesday at the state capitol building in Harrisburg.

Karissa also received a plaque from the Sharpsville Targets Adolescent Alcohol Resistance Coalition, a group that addresses teen-age drinking, at its meeting this week.

The message in Karissa's poster was, "Your life is just begun, underage drinking will ruin life's fun."

The painted illustrations in the poster include a school, a briefcase, a family, a car crash and a hospital. She said her mother helped her come up with the idea for her poster.

Karissa originally did the poster as a project in her gym class last spring. Her teacher then picked the top three posters from each grade to enter in the PLCB's poster contest.

When the letter arrived telling her the poster had been selected, Karissa was surprised.

"My dad read it first, then I read it, then I waited until my mom got home and I showed her," she said.

Karissa said she doesn't know yet if she's going to the ceremony on Tuesday, but said her mother said she would take her if they could find someone else to go with them.

Karissa is the daughter of Lori and Bob Vasconi of Sharpsville. She has three brothers, Rocco, Luke and Bobby.