Students depict environmental awareness for fair

Kristal Petruzzi's fourth-graders at Bob Sikes Elementary School gather for a picture with Jayne Swift on Wednesday. The students were rewarded for participating in a poster contest sponsored by the city of Crestview and CH2MHill. Top row, from left, are Kaitlyn Southard, Petruzzi, Rowan Gomez, Ryan Culligan, Savannah Martinez, Isabelle Hedges, Swift and Dalton Tenorio. In the front row are Ashley Noyola, Tyler Williams, Cayden Hatfield, Azlynn Swabb, Layla Overly and Wyatt Weighknecht in the center.

CRESTVIEW — Twelve Bob Sikes Elementary School students and one Walker Elementary School student have received recognition for participating in the city of Crestview and CH2MHill’s poster contest promoting environmental sustainability.

The contest is in conjunction with the Environmental Conservation Fair, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 4, on Main Street in Crestview. The city and the company that oversees its wastewater treatment are sponsors. 

Event organizer Jayne Swift, a CH2MHill project manager, visited participating students at their schools on Wednesday and gave each a gift bag.

 The first stop was Kristal Petruzzi's fourth-grade class at Bob Sikes Elementary School.

Her class has practiced environmentally conscious habits, including bringing forks from home for lunchtimelunchtime — to prevent plastic alternatives from entering landfills — and picking up trash and recyclables around the school.

"(It’s) just small ways that we can make a difference in the world with leaving as small a footprint as possible," Petruzzi said in an email.

For the contest, her students made their displays on old newspaper in lieu of posters.  

Such efforts impressed Swift, who now wants to work with Petruzzi to provide a sustainability education program.

 Swift also visited Carleigh Fowler of Walker Elementary School, her school’s lone participant in the poster competition.

Some students gave insight on what went into their poster.

"I made a poster where you pick up trash, and not litter," Azlynn Swabb, 9, said. "I made a place where you can cremate the trash, instead of putting it into a huge landfill. Sometimes, landfills, they get into the ocean and kill lots of animals."

 Cayden Hatfield, 10, said he hopes his poster will pass along one simple message.

"The world is not a giant trash can," he said. "We have to work hard to not trash our precious world."

Each participating student received a $10 gift card, among other items.

Want to go?

 The Environmental Conservation Fair is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 4 on Main Street in Crestview.

Vendors wanted

Interested in being a vendor at the Environmental Conservation Fair? Call the Crestview Public Works department, 682-6133 extension 100.

Food vendors can contact the Main Street Crestview Association at 682-4846.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown at 850-682-6524 or matthewb@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbMatthew.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Students depict environmental awareness for fair