Two Hawley Students Honored By Earth Artists Program

By Laurie Borst

Casey Muckell and Liam Garrison are second graders in Linda Giordano’s class at Hawley School. At the beginning of May, they found out they had been selected as winners in the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s 2007 Paul G. Keough Earth Artists Program.

The Earth Artists Program encourages youngsters in kindergarten through sixth grade to consider ecological problems such as pollution and to address the problem and possible solutions by creating  posters or writing poems that share their ideas. The contest was open to students in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Mrs Giordano offered the activity to her class as a voluntary project. Students who chose to participate selected an ecological subject and did some research about the problem and some of the solutions. They brainstormed about solutions, too. The project involved research, writing, art, and science.

One of the rules of the contest is that a class may submit only two entries to the contest. The class voted on the entries, with Casey’s and Liam’s work selected to represent the class. They were very excited to learn that both students received first place recognition.

A ceremony will be held in West Hartford at the University of Hartford on May 30. Casey and Liam will receive Certificates of Recognition.

Casey created a poster that addressed several environmental problems. Air pollution from buildings was one problem she identified. She suggested using windmills to provide clean power. Car pooling was also a way to save energy. She including drawings of kids picking up garbage in a lake as another way to combat pollution.

“I think it will be cool to go see all the other posters, and mine, too,” she said of the upcoming ceremony. “I was surprised, I thought I’d take second place. I didn’t think I’d win, but it felt good when I found out I did.”

Liam tackled the problems of pesticides and chemicals in his poster. He stressed using natural approaches. “Spraying kills the bad bugs but the good bugs die too. Good bugs eat bad bugs,” he said.

“I like to draw. I like the earth and taking care of it. And I like animals,” Liam stated. “I was very excited because at first I thought only one of us won. Then Mrs Giordano announced we both won. I’m glad we both won.”

When assessing the entries, judges look for a clear environmental message — in particular a solution to the environmental problem the children select, creative/innovative ideas, and outstanding art or literary work for the student’s grade level.

For more information on the Earth Artists Program and to view past winning artwork, visit epa.gov/ne/students and click on Earth Artists Program, then click the large Art Gallery button.