Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – Hana Plourde, a seventh-grader at Presque Isle Middle School, is the only Aroostook County student whose artwork appears in a 2008 Maine recycling calendar.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
HANA PLOURDE, 12, a seventh-grader at Presque Isle Middle School, proudly displays her artwork that was chosen to be featured for the month of October in the 2008 Maine Recycles Week calendar. With the assistance of the Maine Recycles Week Steering Committee, the Maine State Planning Office developed the calendar to emphasize the importance of environmental education in encouraging students to protect their natural resources and take full responsibility as stewards of the land. Seventh-graders in Cindy Cote’s science class created recycling posters, and the top five were handpicked by the seventh-grade teaching team to be considered for the calendar contest. Of the 1,700 submissions statewide, only 13 – including Plourde’s – were included in the calendar. She was the only Aroostook County student to have artwork featured.
The Maine State Planning Office, with the assistance of the Maine Recycles Week Steering Committee, developed the calendar to emphasize the importance of environmental education in encouraging students to protect their natural resources and take full responsibility as stewards of the land.
As part of science teacher Cindy Cote’s recycling unit, students had to create a recycling-themed poster.
“This year’s theme was ‘Recycling Works for Maine,’” said Cote. “I had my students do this many years ago, but it had been a while. This time I decided to really promote recycling and taking care of the earth.”
Of the 84 seventh-graders, five posters were chosen to be submitted to the state to be considered for the calendar project.
“The seventh-grade teaching team handpicked the top five which were submitted for the contest,” said Cote. “What I think is impressive is there are 13 pieces of student artwork in the calendar out of a total of 1,700 submissions statewide. Hana was one of those 13, which is wonderful.
“I think it’s great that our students are being recognized for their efforts, especially in an artistic way of promoting recycling,” she said. “Hana had a unique way of showing how recycling works for Maine.”
Plourde’s entry features a tire on a road with recycling arrows around it encouraging people to recycle their old tires.
“A lot of people don’t think of recycling tires,” said Cote. “They think more about paper products, aluminum and plastic. I think Hana did a great job.”
“My Dad thought of the tire, so that’s what I started with,” said Plourde, the daughter of Kerri Plourde and Scott Plourde. “It probably took me about a half-hour to create my poster. I like to draw so it was pretty easy for me. I used colored pencils instead of markers or crayons. That’s usually what I use when I color things.”
Plourde said she’s happy to have been selected from such a large number of students.
“It makes me feel good,” she said. “I never thought my artwork would be seen in a statewide calendar.”
In addition to the poster contest, Cote had her students involved in several other recycling activities.
“I really expanded on the unit this year,” she said. “We tried to re-energize the school’s recycling program, constructed a compost pile in our backyard and we’re still doing some experiments with that, and visited the Presque Isle Transfer Station and landfill. That was a real eye-opener for the students to really see how much is being put there.
“The students also had to start a recycling program at home for a month and keep track of what they were doing for recycling,” said Cote. “We did these activities to try and really promote recycling and the impact that individuals actually have on it if they do their part.”
The 12-year-old’s drawing is featured for the month of October.
In addition to being included in the calendar, Plourde also received a certificate for her efforts.
