As hundreds of drivers travel along Route 155, they will see a new billboard that sports the message “Heroin Kills,” created by a Colonie High student in hopes of preventing the drug from taking more lives. Colonie Central High School sophomore Maya Horton won South Colonie’s 2015 billboard contest, an annual competition hosted by high school art teachers. Where previous years concentrated on hazardous driving, this year’s theme centered on heroin use in dedication to a former Colonie High student who died of an overdose in 2013. “I’m really shocked that I won,” said Horton. “But I’m glad, because even if just one person sees it, and it can change something they were about to do, then I think it was successful.” Horton’s design shows a handgun with a hypodermic needle coming from the barrel. She said an anti-smoking advertisement inspired her design. The billboard, sponsored by Lamar Advertising in Albany, will be up for four weeks on New Karner Road, just past the Walgreens at the intersection of Central Avenue. The campaign began four years ago with art teachers Christine Festin and Justin Defazzio for their Graphics and Photo class students. This year, 73 students submitted entries, with Lamar Advertising officials choosing the winning design. Dozens of Colonie High students were bussed to the billboard site late last week to see the winning design unveiled. The high school art students began work on their designs several weeks ago, after the theme of heroin abuse was announced. In mid-March, the students heard from Patty Farrell, whose daughter Laree, a 2010 Colonie High School graduate, died of an overdose two years ago. Defazzio said that he and Festin were looking to do something different and concentrate on an issue that is more hidden from the public eye. Past campaigns have been concentrated drunk driving and texting while driving. This year’s campaign was dedicated in memory of Farrell’s daughter and draws attention to the rising heroin abuse cases seen in Albany County. “She was the love of my life, and this drug took her from me,” Farrell said at the billboard unveiling event. “This stuff is poison. You can’t take this stuff one time…. It’s killer.” Farrell’s daughter, who was just shy of 19 years old, was found dead of an overdose in their Colonie home in March 2013. Laree Farrell-Lincoln had been struggling with heroin addiction for several months. Since then, Farrell has been speaking out against heroin abuse and advocating for harsher penalties for dealers. Currently, “Laree’s Law,” a bill that will target drug dealers, especially in the case of a fatal overdose, is going through the Senate and Assembly. “(Laree) wasn’t a stereotype,” said Defazzio. “She wasn’t the one you would think is on drugs. She wasn’t the one you would think would use. She was a great kid. She was the head of her class. She was bubbly and cheery and just a light in the school, and she’s the one we lost.” Along with Farrell and school faculty, county and state officials spoke about the “epidemic” in the area, including County Executive Dan McCoy, Town of Colonie Supervisor Paula Mahan, and state Senator George Amedore Jr. McCoy said that he never imagined his office having to offer training for people to reverse the affects of an overdose, such as the course offered in Coeymans at the beginning of April. “We shouldn’t be teaching people how to be trained to reverse an overdose,” he said. Amedore said that he is working to ensure “Laree’s Law” will get passed so that cases like Farrell’s don’t happen again. He asked that the Colonie High students remember Farrell if they were to ever come into contact with a narcotic drug. “I want you to remember Patty, not because she is Laree’s mom, but I want you to remember her because she is a mom,” said Amedore. “Don’t allow your mother…to go through the anguish that they will go through if you get hooked on a narcotic substance and it takes your life.”