|
Arlington students win a Presidential Environmental Youth Award! |
|
|
|
Sunday, 16 March 2008 |
|
 The mid-Atlantic region’s 2007 President’s Environmental Youth Award was given to the Arlington H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program students after they collected 443 items — computer monitors, televisions, cell phones and even a rock tumbler — in a single day last year, said Kathy Molina, the sixth-grade science teacher who oversaw the project.
“We’ll Bring it to You,” a curbside recycling pickup program, was held March 24, 2007, after a group of students saw recyclables littering Windy Run stream during a cleanup.
Ibby Han, Grace Evans, Elliot Grace and Zack Shoultz approached Molina with their concerns over residents’ recycling habits.
“They said, ‘We think there’s a problem with electronic recycling in Arlington,’ ” Molina said. “I saw the potential right away … and I kind of just went forward with it with the kids.”
Six more students joined the effort, with no incentive other than “pure human interest,” she said.
After distributing a survey to 100 parents of children at H-B Woodlawn, the students determined that curbside pickup was a much-desired service among Arlington residents.
Before the students started the program, Arlington had only drop-off programs, which were often inconvenient and involved residents lifting heavy electronic items.
A group of high school students, parents and school faculty volunteered their cars to gather the discarded electronics and dispose of them properly. The County Board agreed to waive the fees associated with recycling electronics after the students presented their idea.
“This is the first time I’ve seen sixth-graders do anything of this magnitude,” Molina said, adding that all of the work was done in the students’ free time. “They felt so good about it at the end.” more information
|
