Using their imaginations, students at Herkimer Elementary school came up with a legion of ideas on how to protect the planet.
Fourth, fifth and sixth grade students at the school recently entered individual posters into a poster contest sponsored by the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority and Wal-Mart in honor of Earth Day.
OHSWA Director of Recycling David Lupinski said the authority wanted to create a contest where students could share their ideas about recycling and other environmentally friendly practices, but since it is a public system, it couldn’t fund any prizes for the students.
That’s when Wal-Mart stepped up, said Lupinski.
Wal-Mart judged each of the posters and selected three winners from each classroom and also put together a list of honorable mentions.
“We had a hard time picking from the posters,” said Wal-Mart’s Pat Murray. “There were so many great ideas.”
Rene Hock of Wal-Mart said making decisions on the posters wasn’t easy and a team of seven employees ultimately chose the winners.
“It’s exciting to see young people get involved with the environment,” said Hock.
One class from each grade level also received a $100 gift card to use toward a class party.
Overall grade winners on the class level were Dale Cruskie’s fourth grade class, Sylvia Lowell’s fifth grade class and Susan Kane’s sixth grade class.
All posters entered in the contest will be hung up at the Herkimer Wal-Mart.
OHSWA School Recycling Coordinator Lauren Barone congratulated all the winners for taking part.
“It’s great to see you all are environmentally conscious,” said Barone.
Lupinski said the top three posters will be sent into a state Department of Environmental Conservation calendar contest, and if any of the three is chosen, it will appear in the DEC calendar.