COMMUNITY Last school in 4J starts recycling Whiteaker kids learn to recycle By June Russell Emerald Reporter When m hool started in Sep tember. the energy conserve tion and recycling programs of the Kugene 4| School District went into action at all sr hools hut one. While other students muni tored energy use, and Weyer haeuser picked up bins of pa pers students had sorted, stu dents at Whileaker Klementarv in north Kugene had no recycl ing program. Two University students set out to change that. “The kids were just really ig norant about it." said Amy Hope, an elementary education major and one of the founders of the Whiteaker program. “First we had to teach the kids how to recycle with games and showing them how to do it . " Teaching students to recycle wasn't easy. Hope said, and teachers who treat recycling as unimportant or time-consum ing make teaching kids to recy cle even more difficult. "Educating the kids was a long process,'' Hope said “You have to reiterate all the time. Teaching it the first time is the hardest, because it's like a new subjet I for them "A few teachers are reluctant to recycle.'' Hope added “They think of it as a chore Thev won't entourage the kids to recycle or recycle them selves, so a lot of the classes aren't recycling as much as they can. "I'd say the majority of teachers aren't into recycling." she added "They think of it as a hobby, not a necessity." University student Brian Kippet, Hope's partner in the recycling program, said the de gree of recycling and the num ber of boxes in each classroom depends on the grades level Third, fourth and fifth graders do the most sophisticated sort ing of papers, and have three Iroxes in each of their rooms. But every class recycles. "In the other grades we just have one box for colored and one for everything else,” Kippet said "It's too hard for L- 3k Phoin hv J r»i h<«» Amy Hope helps Whiteaker Elementary students learn to sort and recvde. them to finurr out where differ ent papers go ." After teaching the students in every grade from kindergarten through fifth to recycle. Hope and Kippet organized an after school recycling club to sort the bins from individual class rooms into the 55-gallon barrels Weyerhaeuser collet.Is about once or twice a month "We had our first meeting, and at that point it was kind of still trial and error." Hope said "We had all kinds of things in the bins, like trash and i hoco late chips, and the paper hadn't been sorted right Hut the kids are learning, and enjoying it For them, recycling is a fun way to make friends and save the environment "You get to bring boxes from all over the school, and then sort the papers — that's what's fun.” said l.inda Okoke, a stu dent at Whitaker "Also, you learn to take care of the plan et." "When you come to recycl ing club you see all your friends here, and make new friends." student Melissa HI,in don said "What I like is that you ran find treasures in the bins when kids throw in other stuff with the papers " Kippet said the amount of re < vi led paper appearing in the bins is growing "We have noticed that there's more ret ycled paper getting recycled, and it's cool that there's a market for re< y cled paper." Kippet said "The greatest thing is just seeing the kids' reaction and how they get into it," Kippet said "1 like to see how some of them take charge and lead it " In addition to developing lead ership skills, the students learn important conservation skills, which is the most rewarding aspect of the program, Hope said. "It's just 100 percent reward ing to see that these kids will lie recycling for the rest of their lives." Hope said. "I feel like I got the whole tiling started " Sigma Kappa Sorority Alpha Phi Chapter at U of 0 is BACK to CELEBRATE our FOUNDER’S DAY November 9, 1874 Continuing our winning tradition!!! WEIGHT MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP Nov. 12th and 17th 3:30-5:00pm EMU Century Room A Topics will range from fitness, exercise and addicted eating behavior Call 346-4456 to pre-register Spsh u xnpuletv it s easy to set up ami easy t<) use So you ran spend less time learning anti mom turn- doing Ufiat's more, you ran save nut only on the new Macinuish ILsi, Ixit ais<> (m the Macinti >sh llci or the maxunum-periomiance Macintosh lltx lust combine anv of these exceptional computers w ith an AppleGofor High-Resolution RGB Monitor, and you’ll he getting a system of lasting value. Not to mention great sit ings l lurry in u day ft>r a ck>ser k * >k at the rntt Macintosh ILsi system and tlx- < xher Macintosh II systems. Then chtxKe your Macintosh, your monitor, and so.- how much money you'll sat e w hen you buy now Microcomputer Support Lab 202 Computing Center • 346-4402 Monday-Friday 9am-5pm l' 'fv-up ' :«! ■ **r» vat ihnrpiuMaHhi Ci 'l V*» '«*M* * vr