Published: May 10, 2008 12:15 am            

High school gaining ground in cleanup

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By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — The Bethel Grade School City Wide Cleanup team maintained its first-place ranking for the number of volunteers and the number of bags collected during the event last week, but they are watching their tailfeathers next year, as the second-place team at Mt. Vernon Township High School in its first year made a big dent in the number of volunteers.

“This is the first year we had more than 58 volunteers,” Bethel Grade School Superintendent Matt Renaud said. “In their first year they had 78 volunteers, which is more than we mustered in the three years before this.”

The two schools received their trophies Friday. MVTHS marketing teacher Cheri Boyd said the cleanup coincided with a marketing project undertaken by her class, and then the Future Business Leaders of America club got involved as well.

“We were very happy we had such a good showing in our first year,” Boyd said. “Our marketing class at the same time was going over marketing plans and strategies and came up with the litter control concept for our campus.”

Accounting teacher Julie Hays, who is the co-sponsor of FBLA with Boyd, also took on the project.

“The whole thing was such a hit,” Boyd said. “The T-shirts were a huge hit, and there were two rules to get one: You have to go to the event, or if you can’t go to the event, you have to tell everyone you know about the event and invite them to come.”

In the week the students had to spread the word and enlist help for the team, they recruited 78 members.

“Students marketed the cleanup team,” Boyd said. “They created posters, had the event on the daily announcements and spread the word. ... They are also conducting surveys and studying research to find out about the event. ... We might not get all the statistics completed and the project assessment completed before the end of school, but next year we’ll do it better.”

For Renaud, getting more adults involved with the Bethel team made all the difference.

“I am really excited,” Renaud said. “I was amazed that the kids came through like that. Everyone says they want to do it, but when it comes time to show up, sometimes they fall short. This time, they showed up. It’s amazing.”

Renaud said in addition, the kids brought their grandparents, friends of their families and parents.

“We had nine people from New Horizon School in Centralia come wanting to help out,” Renaud said. “When you get the parents to show up, it’s great. This time, it started with the kids coming for three years, and getting the parents interested in coming too.”

Next year, city inspector Derrick Quitsch said the first-place team will be competing for an 8-foot-tall trophy. When Renaud told the students they would have to work harder to earn it and the high school would be stiff competition, one enthusiastic student called out that, “We’re gonna beat them, though!”

        

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