6/7/07

Walker Gamble Elementary: All revved up for recycling!
By Danielle Culick

Submitted Photo

Clarendon County Recycling Coordinator Madaline Braxton (right) discusses ways to help save our planet by being good stewards and recycling. Walker Gamble Elementary School fourth and fifth graders took a trip to a nearby recycling center to see all the different products that can be recycled.

The theme at Walker Gamble Elementary School this year was “Racing Toward Success,” and school officials found out that their students were in it to win!
The recycling committee held a can recycling competition between classes. The winning class would receive a field trip and special t-shirt. The competition was fierce. Almost every morning, numerous students would enter school, dragging big bags of cans behind them. They were headed into their classroom to add the number of cans in their bag to the class total. They picked cans up from the roadside, recycled from home and even gathered cans from family members and neighbors. This competition also became a great way for teachers to allow the students to practice math skills in the classroom.

By year’s end, the students’ dedication had really paid off!
Walker Gamble Elementary School has collected 42,448 cans and Mrs. Cindy Gibbons’ fifth grade class won the field trip by collecting 7,335 cans.

The competition was not only fun for the kids, but it also jump-started their desire to help the planet by recycling. They are building recycling habits that will last a lifetime.

The recycling committee also gathers paper on a weekly basis from all of our classrooms to be recycled. WGE is trying to do their part to help the environment and will continue to do so next year.

Editor’s Note: Danielle Culick serves as the speech pathologist for Clarendon School District 3.