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WANAQUE - Student-led cleanup is a success
(by Teresa Edmond - Staff Writer - October 21, 2008)
WANAQUE – What do a tablecloth, a bicycle and a street sign all have in common?
They are all items that were found around Meadowbrook stream next to Lakeland Regional High School (LRHS) during a student-led cleanup on Saturday, Oct. 18.
These items will no longer lie around the stream thanks to the green efforts of about 20 LRHS students who were armed with grasping sticks, trash bags and nets as they picked up trash and recyclable materials last weekend.
The cleanup was an extension of an ecology contest that seven students had entered. The contest challenges its participants to devise and carry out an “action plan” that would positively change the environment. Students must turn in their plan by Oct. 24.
For their action plan, the seven students were researching different animals living in and around Meadowbrook stream, and through a biodiversity lab test, they discovered that the stream was littered with garbage. It didn’t take the students long to realize that it was their peers at Lakeland who had been throwing much of the garbage in the stream, especially since students park their cars on Chestnut Street, which runs parallel to the stream.
Lakeland teacher Barbara Gilbert first learned about the Lexus Eco Challenge from Dr. David Niedosik, LRHS chair of the science, math and family services department. She brought the contest up to students to see if any were interested in teaming up and entering the contest.
“They felt responsible for it because they realize they’re part of the student body,” Gilbert said.
Co-sponsored by the luxury car manufacturer Lexus and the publishing giant Scholastic, the second annual Lexus Eco Challenge was developed to teach high school and middle school students about the environment and to incite them to develop an agenda on improving their environment.
Lexus and Scholastic will choose 16 winning teams nationwide and bestow upon each a total of $10,000 in grants and scholarships. All winning teams from this challenge and two other initial challenges will be invited to participate in the Final Challenge for a chance to win a grand prize of $50,000 in grants and scholarships.
About two weeks ago, fliers were posted around LRHS asking the Lakeland community to help carry out the action plan.
According to senior Jennifer Heck of Ringwood, one of the seven students who devised the Meadowbrook action plan, the students knew garbage existed around the stream, but they “didn’t expect to find a large amount.”
“People don’t respect the stream as much as they should because it’s a habitat for animals, not just a stream,” she said.
Saying she was “proud” that the project boosted students’ environmental awareness, Gilbert pointed out that when students participate in a cleanup venture like the one at Meadowbrook, they interact with one another. The cleanup is also one way the Lakeland community promotes recycling efforts within the school, even as a class project.
Students received T-shirts for finding the most unusual item at the stream, as voted on by the kids, and for collecting the most trash.
The students are glad that the Meadowbrook cleanup project enables them to lend support to the environment. However, it’s not surprising to volunteers like junior Kayla Bender of Ringwood that the stream is littered “because there’s lots of kids around, but they should take care of it more,” she said.
Junior Katrina Desopo of Wanaque is one of the students who responded to a flier she saw in the school hallway. She spoke to Gilbert and then spoke to a fellow member of the school’s nature club about the cleanup.
After cleaning up the stream, the students counted the number of trash bags they used. The students recycled cans, plastics and cardboard at the high school since LRHS has its own recycling center.
As for the street sign, the students put this item next to a telephone pole on Meadowbrook Avenue. On the day of the cleanup, Gilbert said that she would call the municipality on Monday to pick it up because the sign is the borough’s property.
“They could recycle it. At the same time, we can’t leave the sign here and let it rot,” she said.
Resident Michael Griffiths was driving by the students when he saw them lugging the bags full of garbage and recyclables. He stopped to help the students out with these bags.
“It’s great that the kids took it upon themselves (to clean the stream),” he said. “The town should organize more stuff like this and get more people involved.”
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