Wal-Mart awards check to ACES for Earth Day project

By Kathryn Swain
ACES Teacher

Teacher Kathryn Swain, along with students from ACES, and aides Kelli Waggoner and Josefina Cedano, receives a check from Wal-Mart store manager Richard Solovic. Photo by Kristen Martinez/Public Relations

ACES, USD 470's alternative high school, received a $500 grant from Wal-Mart on Tuesday, April 22, to highlight Earth Day.

Two students, Shelby Sticklin and Harvey Harrod, worked on a project about Earth Day that was on display for a week at Wal-Mart, 2715 N. Summit.

"This was a nice opportunity for my students to learn about what it takes to protect our environment," Kathryn Swain, ACES teacher, said. "And I am glad they were able to display their work and help educate the public."

The display included Miss Risa Icling, a trash can dressed in recycled items that the ACES students made last fall as a way to recycle cans. Shelby and Harvey also created a four-sided display board. The top half of one side has pictures of wildlife caught in oil spills, areas polluted with garbage and other pictures that illustrate what happens when we pollute or are not careful with our environment. The bottom pictures showed our natural environment clean, beautiful and unpolluted. The heading is a picture of someone wiping away grime, as if from a window, with a beautiful outdoor picture of trees and a natural setting and the title "If only it were this easy to clean up our world."

Another side had information about how Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin was the driving force behind starting Earth Day and what individuals can do to help protect our environment. There are a number of things that take minimal effort that people can do to help preserve our environment and resources. Simple steps like closing the central air/heat vents in unused rooms in a house, recycling used motor oil at a service station and picking up pet waste from the yard will help protect the quality of the air and water and preserve nonrenewable sources of energy.

ACES is located at the corner of Eighth Street and Radio Lane and plans to use the money to landscape and beautify the campus.