Utah Centennial Studies

 

Philanthropists: Servants Of The Community Packet C

 

Hawthorne Elementary

Salt Lake City, Utah. "Wait! Don't toss out that newspaper! Save that aluminum can ! " The fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at Hawthorne Elementary in Salt Lake City, Utah, are serious about recycling. if one of these energetic kids can corner you, he or she will wring a promise out of you to save all your toilet paper tubes and old clothes hangers in order to make a super marble shoot for their "Recycled Invention Fair." Or Eric, Ernie, or Mackay will sidle up to sell you their triangular shaped earrings made out of old cans. Only $2.00 a pair. What a bargain!

But their teacher, Sheri Sohm, encouraged them to think bigger. So the kids carried their recycling idea to the community, collecting 15,000 cans at their school and starting the Sugarhouse Recycling Center for Newspapers. And some of the children have even served on the mayor's recycling committee.

They call themselves "KOPE" - Kids Organized to Protect the Environment. They have planted a garden in their school yard, written and presented plays, organized their own Earth Day art fair, and written a newsletter. They have started KOPE groups in other schools and hosted two intra-district meetings with 15 other schools to encourage projects to celebrate Earth Week.