Several students, who are members of Lego Lions (a Lego League team), from Washington Court House City Schools’ (WCHCS) Belle Aire Intermediate attended the Washington C.H. City Council meeting on Wednesday to do a presentation before council.
The presentation allowed each student to participate as they took turns speaking.
“We’re from Washington Court House,” began one student.
“We’re in the fourth grade,” continued the next.
The presentation continued in that fashion as it was explained part of their Lego League is to find a “problem in our community and design a solution. We’ve come here tonight to share the results of our project and our concerns.”
“Students took a school-wide survey to determine our greatest problems in our community,” said a fourth student. “Trash in Eyman Park was identified as one of the top problems.”
The students explained that in their research at the park, it was found that trash is discarded on the ground approximately every 30 steps.
The solution the students came up with was to create a competition between “the Blue Lions of Court House and the Panthers of Miami Trace. This will encourage children and families to throw their trash where it belongs — in the trash cans.”
To go along with the competition, the students asked council to place more trash cans in the park, especially where the new splash pad (which is planned to open on Memorial Day) is located. They suggested these trash cans could be painted blue or black to represent the different school districts. The district with the most trash in their color of trash cans will be declared the winner and can then be recognized by Washington C.H. City Manager Joe Denen.
The students also pointed out that when the splash pad does open, parents won’t want their children crossing the road to throw away their trash as there are currently no trash cans at the splash pad.
The students recently gained knowledge on “micro-trash” and spoke shortly about that as well.
Microtrash is basically small pieces of trash that may not be seen unless a person is looking for it. It can be easily digested by creatures and can harm wildlife. The students mentioned seeing a photo of a bird that had a lot of microtrash “in its tummy.”
All six students said in unison, “we have come here tonight to ask city council to purchase more trash cans to help eliminate trash at Eyman Park and the splash pad, which will be opening in the spring. Thank you. Do you have any questions?”
Several members of council expressed gratitude at the end of the meeting along with pride in all the students involved in the project. The council and Denen expressed interest and agreement in adding the trash cans to the park.
Denen explained outside the meeting that, “If a group of kids like that come up and talk with council and they’ve got a reasonable request like that… if those kids would have said that you need sheep in Eyman Park, we would have gone out sheep shopping today.”
Reach Jennifer Woods at 740-313-0355 or on Twitter @JennMWoods.
