Students clean up their little slice of Mother Earth
Students from Onaway Area Community Schools do their part every year to celebrate Earth Day, and one new resident of Onaway noticed their efforts.
Students clean up the streets and receive a coupon for a free ice cream from Dairy Queen, which is paid for by the city of Onaway.
Over the years, the young people have picked up mountains of trash.
Elementary teacher Penny James said a woman who recently moved from Alpena to Onaway saw what the young people were doing, and wanted to tell James what it meant to her.
“(She) came running over to us and thanked us and said she was really proud to see kids taking pride in their town,” said James. “She wasn’t used to seeing that and was so pleased at what a good job they had done.”
No trash was too big or too small, as the students picked up hundreds of cigarette butts and straws.
“The lady said this is the nicest thing,” said James.
ON THE URGING of U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson in the early 1960s, Earth Day bloomed into a grassroots movement that eventually culminated in the first official U.S. observance celebrated in 1970.
“That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day,” said Nelson. “It organized itself.”
The United Nations celebrates Earth Day each year on the vernal equinox (this year on March 20, at 7:34 a.m. EST) when the Peace Bell is rung at the UN headquarters in New York.
JAMES SAID the middle school students cleaned the streets on the north side of Onaway, while the elementary students were taking care of Lynn, College, and Fardon streets, as well as the school property. Organizers make sure the students don’t cross any of the busy roads.
“(Middle school students) probably gathered up about 60 bags
Elementary students collected about 40 bags.” They found items such as tires, empty milk jugs, oil containers, and dirty diapers.
“That really grossed them out,” said James.
THERE WERE a number of phone books, lots of glass, and quite a few pop bottles.
“We say ‘you keep nothing.’ Even if it’s the greatest prize ever,” said James.
The kids found a grand total of seven cents and a very large toad, but again James said, they kept nothing.
It’s probably good for the toad.
The efforts of the local school district and the city hav been a tremendous contribution to Earth Day and have made Onaway a better place to live. The clean up was to continue today and into next week.