Dayton Teachers Recognized for Recycling Program
by Jonathan Weaver
More than 40 Dayton Elementary fourth-graders have been cleaning up their local school of paper.
The recycling effort stems from a program started last year by Fourth-grade Teachers Sherri Cornetti and Crystal Reed.
Students throughout the 2014-15 school year collected and recycled 6,765.5 pounds of paper – which prompted Planning and Development Project Manager and Recycling Coordinator Sally Conklin to honor the two women yesterday.
Conklin said she gave an education program to students at the beginning of last school year before the extracurricular recycling began.
“Mrs. Cornetti contacted me last school year to come and do a presentation because she wanted to get the fourth-graders involved in starting a recycling program,” Conklin said. “This is now their second year for it, and last year, they recycled more than 6,000 pounds of paper – which I thought was pretty impressive.”
Still, both teachers were shocked at yesterday’s recognition before the school band and chorus gave an encore of their holiday performance.
Cornetti said paper was collected weekly and weighed before taken to the local recycling trailer.
“We had a lot of teachers tell us ‘thank you,’ but it’s nice to see other people appreciate it also,” Cornetti said. “I think we just saw how much waste was being put out by the entire school, and we felt it was important to teach the students about keeping the environment clean and (about) being responsible.”
The most recycled paper last year came from Brenda Schrecengost’s fifth-grade class. She, along with the other two classes with the most recycled paper, was honored by Cornetti and Reed before the 2014-15 school year ended.
“This was a surprise – I knew (Conklin) had an interest in what we were doing,” Reed said. “She had contacted me by e-mail and wanted to know the exact amount (but) I thought they were just going to do a little write-up or pamphlet to send out to the community.”
Paper was taken weekly to the local recycling trailer via boxes, but this year, students are utilizing plastic recycling bins previously at Ford City Junior-Senior High.
Conklin hoped the weekly program will prompt a lifelong lesson.
“If you teach them while they’re younger, hopefully they’ll carry the habits through to their adult life,” Conklin said.
The recognition came during the year officials are celebrating the Armstrong Recycling Center’s 20th anniversary.
The two teachers also received the board game “Armstrong-Opoly,” which was donated by the Armstrong County Tourist Bureau.
Armstrong School District | jweaver December 17, 2015
