Local teen wins Nike billboard campaign

If you are ever at the corner of Jamaica Avenue and Sutphin Boulevard, look up, and you will find the work of Cindy Bencosme, Queens’ winner of the Nike ACG Boots Billboard Campaign.
As part of their new marketing campaign, “The Strength Inside,” Nike Sportswear assigned high school teens in New York City, along with those in Philadelphia and Baltimore, with the task of creating a photo journal of what strength means to them.
In New York, Nike partnered with the Center for Arts Education (CAE), a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving arts education for children in city schools. The CAE distributed black and white disposable cameras to high school students residing in Queens, Brooklyn and Harlem communities.
“The goal of this program is to expose high school students, teachers and counselors to the many exciting career options in New York City’s $21 billion arts industry,” said Richard Kessler, executive director of the CAE.
After students captured their pictures, the cameras were sent to Nike, who then selected one image per neighborhood to be displayed on a billboard in the community.
Nike selected Bencosme, a senior at Thomas Edison Career and Technical High School, as the Queens winner for her picture depicting the small hands of her 6-year-old niece stretched toward the sky.
“I took a picture of my niece because she’s my strength inside,” said Bencosme. “She inspires me because she reminds me so much of myself when I was a little kid.”
Assemblymember Rory Lancman recently honored Bencosme at the site of the billboard, on Friday, January 30.