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By David DeKunder | 502nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs | May 29, 2020
During the past school year, students and teachers at Fort Sam Houston Elementary School collected more than a million pounds of recycling materials which earned the school the top prize in a nationwide recycling contest.
Fort Sam Houston Elementary School came out on top in the PepsiCo Recycle Rally contest, a nationwide competition in which more than 2,000 schools in grades pre-K-12 competed to raise the most amount of recycling materials. For taking first in the contest, the school received the grand prize worth $50,000.
The contest was held from August to March when it was cut short because of COVID-19. Still, the Cougar Cub Recycling Club, which was formed by Fort Sam Houston Elementary School students and teachers at the beginning of the school year, was able to collect 1.4 million pounds of recyclable materials, including water bottles and aluminum cans, easily surpassing the club’s goal of 20,000 pounds.
Paul Perea, Fort Sam Houston Elementary School music teacher and recycling club sponsor, said the school surpassed its 20,000-pound goal by the end of August.
“I knew then that we were on to something really big,” Perea said.
Perea said the idea for starting the club and a recycling program at the school came about as a result of discussions he had with Fort Sam Houston Elementary Principal Dr. Joseph Cerna before the start of the 2019-20 school year.
He said his discussions with Cerna focused on what the school’s students could do that would make a positive impact on the school and the Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston community.
“I said, ‘What if we started something like a recycling program?’” Perea said.
Starting a recycling club and program at a school was something Perea done before. Before he started teaching at Fort Sam Houston Elementary in 2019, he started a recycling program at an elementary school he taught at in San Antonio. That school won the PepsiCo Recycle Rally contest two years in a row.
Using his experience and expertise, Perea was able to get the support of students and teachers in helping to start the recycling club and establishing a recycling program at the school. He credits the participation of students, teachers and elementary school parents for the program’s success and for helping the school win the contest.
“It goes back to our great students and parents who helped our program and the teachers who are passionate about our eco-system,” Perea said. “If we can separate waste from recyclable goods, we are making a big difference, a difference of 1.4 million (pounds of recyclable materials) not going into the garbage.”
Perea said the recycling effort at the school took off because teachers instilled into students the need to recycle and help the environment. In turn, the students were able to convince their parents and the Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston community to do the same thing.
“Students became the teachers in teaching parents how to recycle,” Perea said.
Cerna and Nita Ford-Hightower, JBSA-Fort Sam Houston school liaison officer, helped the recycling club expand its outreach by connecting them to community partners within JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, who participated in the recycling program. Community participants included Brooke Army Medical Center, Lincoln Military Housing, W. Ed Parker Youth Center, Wounded Warriors, Parkwood Housing Area, JBSA-Fort Sam Houston School Liaison Office and Cole High School Junior ROTC Department.
Each month these community partners sent a tally of their recyclable materials to the school, boosting the school’s total amount collected for the PepsiCo Recycle Rally.
In addition, local community business partners, including Gunn Nissan and Lifetime Fitness, also contributed their recycling materials to the school’s collection.
Cerna said what the Cougar Cub Recycling Club accomplished went beyond winning a nationwide recycling contest.
“It changed a lot of behaviors of teachers, students and community members on recycling,” Cerna said. “It became something that helped bring us together. We were filling up about 16 to 20 recycling bins a week at the school.”
He said the efforts of the club and the recycling program helped improve discipline and instruction at the elementary school because it gave students a common purpose and something to be engaged in.
“We want it to become part of our culture of service and protecting the earth,” Cerna said. “We always wanted to find a way for faculty, parents and students to work together. This was a simple way to do it.”
Cerna said proceeds from the PepsiCo Recycle Rally contest grand prize awarded to the school will be used to support school projects and organizations, including a student media production club, campus beautification projects promoting recycling, and the Cole High School Junior ROTC.
| Date Taken: | 05.29.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 05.29.2020 14:09 |
| Story ID: | 371055 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 59 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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