PRESQUE ISLE — Maine Public Service awarded five students $100 savings bonds for first-place Earth Day essays and posters, created to identify the theme: “Earth Day 40: Celebrating 40 Years of Earth Day” The winners were announced in honor of Earth Day, April 22, 2010.
Alex Bouchard, a grade 2 student at New Sweden School, took third-place honors in the annual Earth Day contest, sponsored by Maine Public Service Company.
This year’s poster winners are: first place, Lauren Paradis, grade 1, Dr. Levesque School; second place, Larry Nadeau, grade 2, Wallagrass Elementary School; and third place, Alex Bouchard, grade 2, New Sweden School. Posters drawn by Evan Dionne and Brandon Ringuette, both Madawaska Elementary School first-graders, were selected for honorable mention.
Winning essays for the Grade 3-5 category are: first place, James Cyr, grade 4, Madawaska Elementary School; second and third place respectively, Sierra Rhoda and Elijah Older, Houlton Southside School fourth-graders. Honorable mention was awarded to Alannah Violette, also from Southside School’s grade four.
Grade 6-8 winners are: first place, William Popov, grade 8, Presque Isle Middle School; second place, Justin Nason, grade 7, Ashland Middle School; and third place, Anna Cannon, another PIMS eighth-grader. Honorable mentions were awarded to Jacqueline Lambert, grade 8, PIMS and Nicholas Lajoie, grade 8, Van Buren District Secondary School.
Winners in the Grade 9-10 division are: first place, Mark Leaser, grade 10, Van Buren District Secondary School; second place, Myka Caron, grade 9, VBDSS; and third place, Lindsey Graves, grade 10, of Fort Fairfield Middle/High School.
Presque Isle High School students swept the Grade 11-12 division. Winners were: first place, senior Justin Lewin; second place, junior Bonnie Wylder; and third place, junior Paul Elish.
April 22, 2010, marks the 40th anniversary of the original Earth Day. The international focus on Earth Day reflects the global scope of all major environmental issues, including global warming, deforestation, ozone depletion, the rain forest, renewable energy resources, energy conservation, and hazardous, toxic wastes.
First place winners receive a recognition plaque, a $100 savings bond, and a gift certificate donated by Maine Potato Growers. Teachers of the first-place winners receive an environment book. Second-place winners receive a plaque and a $75 savings bond. Third-place winners receive a plaque and a $50 savings bond. All winners receive an Earth Day T-shirt, and all participants receive Earth Day certificates of achievement. The posters and essays will be showcased at the Aroostook Centre Mall.
Carol McElwee, Denise Bosse, and Robert White, all of Caribou, and Nancy Chandler from Maine Public Service Company, judged the Earth Day entries.
Pleased with the huge number of participants in the contest, MPS Supervisor of Conservation and Education Services Chandler said, “This year we received more than 500 creative ideas from writers and artists. Creative ways of celebrating Earth Day’s 40th anniversary ranged from planting a tree for each one that is cut to making the land more beautiful by cleaning all the ditches near our homes
“There are many ways we can celebrate Earth Day. Maine Public Service is proud to celebrate Earth Day through the talented writers and artist in its service territory. Remember you can make a difference during this 40th anniversary of Earth Day. One student reminds us to appreciate our Earth and do many small things that will help keep the Earth functioning well. Plant a tree, fix a leaky faucet, use both sides of the paper, carpool, use fluorescent bulbs, and turn things off when you are done using them — just some of the many suggestions from the Earth Day essayists,” she said.
