Eco-kids Project

Making schools across our area just a little greener The Arlis-Saxon Eco Kids project hopes to empower local youth with the tools to make their eco-friendly ideas more than just ideas KX News caught up with two Prairie Rose sixth graders to hear about their grant application - and about their proposal at creating a more Earth-friendly elementary school andamp quot We are the Recycle Me Please Panthers said Gina Zastoupil a Prairie Rose Sixth Grader andamp quot That s the name we made up We are recycling paper for our schools so we don t waste so much paper to help trees and save the rainforests andamp quot Helping trees - and helping reduce waste globally - by focusing on what we can all do - locally andamp quot It can help save the environment and can help save trees andamp quot said Madelyn Reichert a Prairie Rose Sixth Grader andamp quot Trees put oxygen into the air which can help the ozone layer It stops soil from eroding just by taking simple act by putting paper into crates andamp quot It s all about making smart environmental decisions - school by school classroom by classroom student by student Gwyn Ridenhour began the Arlis Saxon Eco Kids Project andamp quot Our efforts are toward environmental andamp lt a href andamp quot http www kxnet com t educationandamp quot class andamp quot kxInlineLinkandamp quot andamp gt educationandamp lt aandamp gt andamp quot said Ridenhour andamp quot It s also teaching students to be intentional stewards of their world And we start off with the environment but we re hoping they can take these environmental skills and apply them to all sorts of social issues andamp quot The kids formulate their ideas - put them down on paper - and then send them in for the cash andamp quot We re going to do it all our year and then the next year andamp quot said Madeyln Reichert andamp quot The new 6th graders will do it too It will keep on doing and doing and doing even after we ve gone onto middle school high school college andamp quot They re going to buy crates for each classroom to put the paper in they ve hired the school janitor to take the paper for recycling - and to keep track of how much they re recycling - they ve thought of one other thing andamp quot We would also like to purchase a scale so we will have one child from each classroom weigh at the end of the week andamp quot Zastoupil said andamp quot And we ll record it on paper to see if it s a success or not andamp quot The sixth graders at Prairie Rose are receiving 300 00 for their grant to bring their ideas to fruitition Keeping it focused on kids is what Ridenhour is all about Gwyn Ridenhour andamp quot They re not scared to do something new They re not scared to take something on They re go getters andamp quot This year the project will hand out more than 1300 dollars in grant money Next year thanks to the help of a few local organizations the project says it plans to hand out even more