Waste In Place Teacher Training Workshop

In November of 2003 when I accepted the position of Executive Director of Keep Pearland Beautiful, I never envisioned the opportunities for learning that this job has presented. On June 18th, I was privileged to be the facilitator for the Waste to Place teacher training for 15 of our Pearland teachers in grades kindergarten through sixth grade.

Our goal was to keep the activities and discussions lively so that the day seemed to be overflowing with environmental news. Some of the day’s demonstrations included paper making, rubber stamp making, creating garbage pizza and a litter evaluation exercise. All of these activities are correlated to the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Standards) tests and at the same time will be teaching our children the importance of taking responsibility for their environment.

One important question for all attendees; what is litter? Litter is Waste out of place; therefore with this training, our hope is that teachers will better understand how to teach children to put waste in its place.

Each first time attendee to the workshop went home with lots of tools to put the Waste in Place lessons into action in their classrooms. Included in the teacher goody bags were three books, including the Wartville Wizard” and “Where does the Garbage Go?”, a video on “Clean Air Aware”, posters for the classroom, a paper making kit which included a blender and a paper recycling bin for their classroom. Teachers teaching in Pearland went home with a $50 stipend which should go a long way toward purchasing any additional supplies needed for hands-on classroom activities.

KPB Awards Joe Miller Environmental Scholarship

On May 14, 2010 at the Dawson High School Senior Awards Ceremony, Keep Pearland Beautiful awarded the Joe Miller Environmental Scholarship to Alcyone Levy. On May 13 at Pearland High School, KPB presented the Joe Miller Environmental Scholarship to senior Sarah Kim. Joe Miller was an avid environmentalist with a passion for helping Keep Pearland Beautiful. Joe was serving on the KPB board at the time of his death in July 2008.

His wife JoAnne, and his daughter, Elizabeth, were the presenters at the Awards Ceremony and along with son, Andrew, played a vital role in establishing the scholarship program. This is the second year that KPB has awarded the scholarships to graduating seniors. To be eligible for the Joe Miller Scholarship, a senior must have a 2.75 or better grade point average, read and sign an application, obtain a letter of recommendation from an outside source and write a 300 word essay on, “ Environmental Stewardship: Sustaining our Planet”. In the essay, the applicant had to address both of the following items: 1. How have you been a good steward of the planet? 2. What are your plans to practice environmental stewardship in your career and personal life during and after college?

KPB received 23 applications and after interviewing 6 candidates, the committee selected Ally and Sarah to be this year’s recipients of the Joe Miller Environmental Scholarship. Ally plans to attend the University of Miami and study marine biology and broadcast journalism. As president of the Dawson H.S. Environmental Science Club, Ally implemented cafeteria recycling and tree planting at Dawson. Sarah plans to attend the University of Houston and major in architecture; as president of the Interact Club, Sarah helped with such projects as the KPB Cigarette Litter Awareness Day and KPB’s city-wide trash-offs. Keep Pearland Beautiful will be giving each winner a $1,000 check to use for higher education expenses.

Keep Pearland Beautiful wishes to thank the friends and family of Joe Miller who contributed to the scholarship fund and participated in our Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament fund raiser. Because of their generosity, KPB will be able to offer environmental scholarships for years to come.

Fantastic Footlockers
Keep Pearland Beautiful has on permanent loan from the Houston-Galveston Area Council four "Fantastic Footlockers" that contain everything a teacher needs to do a lesson or series of lessons on one of the following topics:

• Paper Recycling
• Metals Recycling
• Plastic Recycling
• Composting

These footlockers are for elementary grades, but can be adapted for use with any grade. They can be checked out by any teach our office at 281-652-1659.

To Teachers:
Keep Pearland Beautiful can help you with environmental  programs and activities by supplying speakers, judges and prizes for contests, activity books and other information and material. Auntie Waste and Auntie Trash, along with our mascot, Peary the Partridge are also available for school programs and special events by appointment. Just give us a call at 281-652-1659

Visit the Keep America Beautiful kids web page for some fun ideas. www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=tools_teachers