East Windsor Honors Earth Day Recycing Poster Contest Winners

It was a packed, standing-room only crowd Tuesday night in the as parents, students and the community got together to honor the award winners in this year’s Earth Day Recycling Poster Contest, sponsored by East Windsor Township’s Clean Communities Committee.

In all, 24 students , six each from the four elementary schools in the East Windsor Regional School District. Contestants were asked to submit a poster that represents the four “R’s” of recycling that are depicted in the township’s Recycling Program logo:

• RECYCLE all items that can be recycled;
• REUSE other items rather than throw them out in the trash;
• REDUCE the amount of waste that is created;
• REBUY, or buy goods that use recycled materials.

First, second and third-place winners were selected in each elementary school in two categories: kindergarten through second grade and third through fifth grade. Judging the contest were Ed Kelly, chairman of East Windsor’s Planning Board and a member of East Windsor’s Environmental Commission; East Windsor Chief of Police William Spain; and East Windsor Clean Communities Chairman Vincent Citarella. The winning posters will be on display in the Municipal Building.

The award-winning posters were quite creative, with students using various mediums and techniques to get their point across about recycling. Some were drawn, some were painted and others even incorporated three-dimensional objects and creations.

“This is a really fun event,” said Mayor Janice Mironov. “The whole idea is to get people thinking about the environment.”

Mayor Mironov presented each winner with an award certificate, an East Windsor recycling program magnet and a gift card to Barnes and Noble, courtesy of local makeup company .

Gabby Strzepek, a first grader at , won a first-place award for her recycling poster that depicted the Earth with people across the globe holding hands. She said what she wanted to show with her poster is the message, “Don’t litter the Earth and make Earth a happy place."

Kevin Sun, a fifth-grade student at , won a first-place award for his poster. “I basically put a house that includes the four R’s, like solar panels on the roof,” he said.

Bhavya Kilambi, a second-grader at Ethel McKnight, won a second-place award for her poster that shows a crying Earth surrounded by activities that are bad for the environment, like not turning off the lights in a room when leaving it and having multiple people watching TV at the same time in different rooms of a house. It also showed a happy Earth that is surrounded by people who all watch one TV together and turn off the lights when leaving a room.

Julia Kim, a second-grade student at , said she entered the contest because she “thought it was going to be fun,” and because she “wanted to show people they should start recycling, reusing, reducing and rebuying.” [Editor’s note: Julia Kim is the daughter of columnist and writer of this article, Lauren Kim.]

At the ceremony, Mayor Mironov announced which school had the highest number of students entering the contest. The winner was Grace Norton Rogers Elementary School, with 66 posters in all received. Ethel McKnight Elementary School submitted 29 entries, as did Perry L. Drew Elementary School, and Walter C. Black School had 27 entries.

To honor Grace Norton Rogers for its high contest participation, the mayor presented GNR first-place winner Linden David Recchia with a framed East Windsor Earth Day proclamation, which is now displayed in the school.

The award winners of the 2011 Earth Day Recycling Poster Contest were:

Walter C. Black School

Grades K-2  award winners (19 posters received):

Third: Shreya Krishnan

Second: Tarvn Kumar

First: Lauren Wargo

Grades 3-5 award winners (8 posters received):

Third: Vikram Srinath

Second: Milee Patel

First: Kevin Sun

Perry L. Drew School

Grades K-2 award winners (9 posters received):

Third: Jason Mikita

Second: Vidhi Challani

First: Siya Kamat

Grades 3-5 award winners (20 posters received):

Third: Aneesh Acharya

Second: Ragini Nagi

First: Melissa Espinoza

Ethel McKnight School

Grades K-2 award winners (8 posters received):

Third: Gabby Strzepek

Second: Bhavya Kilambi

First: Sydney Bura

Grades 3-5 award winners (21 posters received):

Third: Casey Weber

Second: Pranav Menon

First: Ethan Busa

Grace N. Rogers School

Grades K-2 award winners (20 posters received):

Third: Julia Kim

Second: Gabriella Rossi

First: Linden David Recchia

Grades 3-5 award winners (46 posters received):

Third: Andrew Olmos

Second: Araceli Danama

First: Nalalia Sasaguay