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Home About Us B2B Club Breaking News Contact Donate Events / Programs Feedback Ideas Incubator Industry Clusters Links / Resources Progess Funds Progress Teams Public Art / Murals Publications		Breaking News May 17, 2005 - Kids cleanup school campuses By Deb Cleworth, Daily Tribune Staff Students in area school districts are talking trash - in a good way. From elementary to high schools, area youths are taking initiative and doing some spring cleaning on their school campuses. The South Wood County Campus Clean-Up Day was scheduled for Friday at area schools, but unseasonable cold and seasonable rain forced some schools to reschedule their plans. Howe Elementary School students braved Friday's weather and spent some time picking up the school yard. The Clean-Up Day evolved from the Community Progress Youth Initiative Team, said Mary Wirtz of the Community Foundation of South Wood Community. "It really was a project of Lincoln High School to begin with," Wirtz said. The students at LHS have held cleanup days for several years, and those students suggested the project to the students involved on the initiative team. "We have been doing campus cleanup since around 1990," said Harvey Hayden, a science teacher at Lincoln High School and the founder and adviser of the school's Earth Society. "The Earth Society wanted to help make a difference on our campus and thought that this would be a good way to do it. "It helps to clean up the litter now so that the campus looks nice during the summer," he said. The annual cleanup at LHS will be held Friday. Almost 800 students participate, Hayden said. Weather halted the work planned for Friday at Grant Elementary School, but the school's first- and fourth-grade students planned to head out on Monday. "We're cleaning up the area. We've got a (school) forest that we're going to go through," said Terry Whitmore, principal at the school. Some of the other grade levels partnered to do other cleaning around the school at different times earlier this spring. Once the snow melts, the trash is much more visible, especially in the ditches, Whitmore said. "Along with going out and picking up trash, the kids learn what they can do to prevent it, so the teachers taught about that," Whitmore said. Whitmore hopes the Campus Clean-Up will become an annual event. "Absolutely," he said "I see the whole community coming together." A grant from the Community Foundation helped to fund the project. Participants received buttons reading, "Think Globally, Act Locally." Garbage bags were donated by the Wisconsin Rapids Police Association, Wirtz said. Participants also received gloves to use during the pickup. Several other schools, such as Children's Choice, Pitsch, Rudolph and Vesper elementary schools, cleaned up on Earth Day, which was April 22.
		Copyright © 2005, Community Progress Initiative, South Wood County & Town of Rome