Here at Avram Iancu School, there are many things to celebrate. Kids who really have great motivation, teachers with wonderful ideas, and projects that build on the future of this small, but big-hearted city. One of these projects, named “Collect, Select and Recycle”, started on March 15th and will continue until June ending with an awards ceremony at the local Primaria which sponsored the event on June 3rd, during children’s week and town pride days here in Campia Turzii.
Today I went out to take photos of the students from grade 7, led by their teacher, Mrs. Ioana Rusu, who together are actively pursuing their ecological quest each day along with their young colleagues by collecting paper, bottles, cans, plastic, wood, metal and other various and sundry items which can go into the recycle bins and not into the rivers or other places they don’t belong. Yes, there’s lots of competition, too, as the prizes for the hauls range from 300-500 RON (Over 175 USD) quite a good sum for young class members to do as they will with (this class talked of buying a turtle for their biology room).
Each week they will bring the trash outside to be weighed in, and in the end, it’ll be a boon for all regardless of who nets the cash. After seeing how they all worked together and how each of their teachers inspired them to be good citizens for their community, well, I do believe that whichever classes win the prizes after the 11 weeks of clean-up and sorting are up, the real prize will be that they will understand a bit better about the problems we face with litter and waste and will have gained valuable skills in team-building and cooperation, a volunteering spirit and a sense of duty toward their own environment.
Shamelessly, still, this one-time college biology major is rooting for one lucky turtle to take up residence here with us…the race is on!
