Illinois EPA Presents Green Youth Awards for Environmental Achievements

SPRINGFIELD – The hard work and commitment of students and schools across Illinois to exhibit environmental leadership was recognized today at the Governor’s Green Youth Awards at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.  The awards administered by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged outstanding environmental protection and conservation projects by Illinois’ young people.

“These projects demonstrate the creativity and innovation our young people bring to protecting the environment,” said Illinois EPA Interim Director Lisa Bonnett.  “This awards ceremony allows Governor Quinn and the Illinois EPA to recognize the extraordinary work they have done and to encourage them to continue on this path.”

The winners of the Governor’s Green Youth Awards were students who worked on environmental projects either individually or as part of a group, for their achievements in waste reduction, energy efficiency and sustainability.

2011 award winners are:

Cornell Grade School (Cornell-Livingston County)

“Threatened & Endangered Plant Project”

Students planned, researched and successfully implemented their project goal of repopulating their community with 30 species of threatened and endangered Illinois plants. These 30 species serve as parent plants for over 3,000 plants that will be given to area schools, universities, state parks and the local community, in order to raise awareness of the need for conservation efforts.

Trico Elementary School (Campbell Hill-Jackson County)

“Where the Wild Things Go”

Fourth grade students planned, organized and implemented a wildlife habitat in a previously unused outdoor area at their school. This outdoor area will provide food, water, and habitats for local wildlife, and serve as a learning lab for Trico Elementary School. The area includes native, drought-resistant plants, host plants for butterfly and moth caterpillars, nectar sources for butterflies, moths and hummingbirds, as well as seed plants for birds. The students use organic gardening techniques that allow for optimum growth of the garden without using harmful chemicals. The benches, bird houses and bird feeders are all made from recycled milk jugs, and the children made stepping stones, glass mosaic artwork and toad abodes from recycled materials. The students wrote a book that explained the project and included information and resources for use by others to create their own backyard wildlife habitats.

Freemont Middle School (Mundelein-Lake County)

“Green Club”

The overarching goal of the Green Club projects is to cultivate environmental stewardship through hands-on service-learning projects. The club was asked to initiate recycling in the school district. A recycling station is conveniently located in the foyer of each school building. The Green Club maintains, audits and sorts the recycling station bins. Items collected include e-waste, single-stream recyclables, books, as well as worn-out athletic shoes that are repurposed by Nike in manufacturing athletic surfaces for underserved communities. In addition, some of the electronics and books are donated to various not-for-profits for re-use. The busy members of the Green Club also organized two Adopt-a-Highway events, as well as recess cleanups throughout the course of the school year.

Prather School Earth Protectors (Granite City-Madison County)

“Green Shoes”

The Earth Protectors do all of the recycling for their school. They wanted to make an impact on students and staff to help make the earth a better place to live. To remind everyone to recycle, the Earth Protectors presented a “black light” musical skit entitled “Green Shoes,” about a boy who noticed that his park was filled with trash. The Earth Protectors told the boy that the items could be recycled. They sang a song and placed the items in the park in the correct recycling bins. After the song, they invite to boy to join them and become an Earth Protector too. The show reminded the students and staff at Prather School that they all must do their part by wearing “green shoes” everyday.

Joe DiGuiseppi (Rockford-Winnebago County)

“Storm Drain Marking for the Village of Cherry Valley”

Joe’s Eagle Scout environmental education project utilized Boy Scouts and other volunteers, as well as local resources, to increase public awareness about nonpoint source pollution. Volunteers glued 200 markers on the Cherry Valley storm drains to alert potential polluters to the fact that what they dump into the storm drains flows directly into local rivers. Workers also picked up trash around the storm drains and distributed nearly 600 door hangers that informed residents about non-point source pollution and tips on proper disposal. It is Joe’s hope that the storm drain markers and door hangers will make people think twice and dispose of their waste in a responsible manner.

Anna Pienta (Rock Island-Rock Island County)

E-Green-Recycling

Anna’s recycling project started out with a news article that caught her attention, explaining the growing problem associated with e-waste. Consumers are constantly upgrading electronics, but many times have no idea of what to do with out-dated or unwanted electronics. Anna wanted to inform citizens of this problem and positively influence people to recycle their old electronics to prevent the accumulation of hazardous materials in landfills. Anna cooperated with local sponsors and media to   collect and divert over 9,000 pounds of electronic waste through six half-day collections at two different sites. Although the project had some challenges, Anna learned from these, and is ready to face future challenges one mega-byte at a time.

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