My Recycling Presentation Mayra Chanon Washington High School South Bend, IN
The moment I got accepted into the Student Recycling Leadership Corps, I already had two prospective ideas in mind for my two recycling projects….
1 st Project Making Western Avenue Greener Recently a very busy street in South Bend, IN, Western Ave. partially got renovated. In my opinion, Western Avenue is a very important part of South Bend, and it is important to the Hispanic Community as well. Western has so much soul, personality, and means so much to so many people. I live near Western Avenue and I have seen it in the bad and in the good. Before getting renovated, Western Avenue was not such a pretty sight.
Making Western Avenue Greener Originally, my community project was supposed to be, to place recycling bins on the newly renovated part of Western Avenue. I had a vision that with these recycling bins on Western, the street would stay beautiful and forever look, as if it just got renovated. It would also be a way to implement more recycling tactics on Western and hopefully the west side of South Bend.
Making Western Avenue Greener I shortly got in communication with someone from the Office of Sustainability in South Bend. We spoke and I got informed that what I was trying to do was not exactly permitted. It was not exactly permitted, because the City of South Bend is not actually in charge of Western Ave. The Downtown South Bend Committee takes care of Western Avenue.
Making Western Avenue Greener This all made me a bit sad, because I had a vision about my community project and now I had to completely change it.
Making Western Avenue Greener I was very upset at the moment, because it can be hard sometimes to accept the fact that one can be wrong about something and have to change it. However, thankfully after having a quick chat with someone from our Office of Sustainability we brainstormed a few ideas. An idea we had was, I could hang a few signs up on Western Avenue about recycling. Soon, I started getting a new vision and started to modify it.
Making Western Avenue Greener I quickly asked several businesses on Western Avenue if they would consider recycling and having signs placed inside about recycling. Three businesses said yes and that they really liked the way I was trying to raise awareness about recycling. It took me several weeks to make the signs, due to other activities I was participating in. However, while being overwhelmed, drowning in responsibilities, and finishing assignments in order to graduate, I managed to make the signs weeks later. In my opinion, they turned out marvelous.
I made these signs about recycling and how easy it can be, in Spanish and in English
Making Western Avenue Greener The business owners were very excited that I finally got around to making the signs. I placed the signs in Spanish and in English in three businesses. Taqueria Chicago Gamer San Miguel
2 nd Project Washington High School Going Green At the beginning, I also had a vision for my second project. I wanted to host a friendly recycling competition between the grade levels at my high school, with the items collected, with help from the Recycling Club, Art Club, and other students we would build our school mascot. A panther. Due to the weather, lack of time, and my other extracurricular activities I soon realized this goal would not be possible. I started brainstorming about other things I could do to promote recycling at my school.
Washington High School Going Green So, I decided to still have the recycling competition between the grade levels, but modify it a bit. At my high school we currently are required to wear school uniforms, so the prize for the grade level that brought in the most empty plastic bottles would win a free dress down day. My goal was to have a total of 500 empty plastic bottles recycled. After deciding on dates and things for the competition, The Recycling Club and I started campaigning it.
Washington High School Going Green I placed plenty of signs everywhere in the building and had help making a banner. I placed boxes at the entrance of the school and started getting everything prepared for the big competition that would take place May 9 - May 13.
Washington High School Going Green I got a little bit discouraged, because the first day the boxes were empty, but the next days they really started to get full. With some help, I would empty them and place new labeled boxes in the entrance of my school. My worries quickly disappeared, because the boxes got really full, really fast. Here and there, I would post pictures and updates about the competition on social media.
Washington High School Going Green My goal was successfully reached! We actually exceeded the amount expected. With everything totaled, at the end I had a total of 530 empty plastic bottles! The students were very impressed and so were the teachers. I cannot think of any better success.
I learned that it is completely normal for things to not go as planned. I learned that even if things get tough, stick with them and try not to get discouraged. I hope that my small impact set off a chain reaction and that I impacted a few people, because that was the actual objective for both projects!
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