PRESS RELEASE DETAIL
For release: IMMEDIATELY
Release Date: 04/07/2017
Parish-wide 2017 Earth Day poster design competition for middle and high school students
CONTACT:
Janene Tate, Communications Director
jtate@brgov.com
225-389-7957
Mayor-President Broome announces parish-wide 2017 Earth Day poster design competition for middle and high school students
BATON ROUGE, La. — As part of her ongoing commitment to K-12 education, and to engage Baton Rouge’s youngest citizens in responsible environmental and waste disposal practices, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and the Department of Environmental Services (DES) are promoting a 2017 Earth Day poster design competition. While a collaboration with the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, this contest is open to all East Baton Rouge Parish middle and high school students in all school systems.
“One of the most important ways in which we can engage our youth involves how to be good stewards of our environment and the responsibilities that come with being an informed citizen,” Broome said. “All eligible students are encouraged to participate in this competition and use it as an opportunity to learn how we can work together to build a Baton Rouge that we are proud to call home for years to come.”
Through the competition, students will be tasked with creating posters that educate the public on ways to help prevent clogs and backups in the wastewater system through responsible disposal. For example, warm fats and grease, in their liquid form, easily flow through piping. However, when these liquids cool and solidify, they form clogs in our wastewater system’s piping that require work crews to clear the piping so that wastewater can flow freely again.
“Fun and engaging projects like this poster design competition are critical in helping our students learn the importance of responsible waste disposal and sustainable environmental practices at a young age so they can pass their good habits along to family, friends and their own children one day,” said Warren Drake, East Baton Rouge Parish School System superintendent. “Any time we can partner with the City-Parish to educate our students on important topics such as these, we help build a better future for Baton Rouge.”
Posters, which can be designed by one or multiple students, must be completed and turned into the DES director’s office at City Hall — located at 222 St. Louis Street on the 8th floor, Room 809 — by Tuesday, April 18. All posters will be displayed and judged at the DES booth during Baton Rouge’s Earth Day celebration at the Baton Rouge Zoo on Saturday, April 22. Winners will be notified the following week and publicly recognized at a future Metro Council meeting.
Through the department’s school outreach program, DES partners with schools across East Baton Rouge Parish on efforts like the mayor-president's 2017 Earth Day poster design competition. This program brings DES team members into K-12 science classrooms to discuss topics such as the City-Parish’s wastewater treatment system and garbage and recycling programs; partner with students on classroom projects and learning competitions; create mentoring relationships; and educate students on how they can contribute to a clean environment, free of unnecessary waste or debris.
The initiative also serves as another example of Broome’s commitment to partnering with the East Baton Rouge Parish School System whenever possible to educate area youth on important topics like environmental sustainability and changing the litter culture in Baton Rouge, a core component of the mayor-president's Clean Sweep EBR clean-up event held April 1.
For a full list of competition guidelines, go to http://brgov.com/earthdayposter.pdf or email Michael Lowe at mlowe@brgov.com. For more information on 2017 Louisiana Earth Day, to www.laearthday.org.