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Paige Smith

Ms. Cunningham

English Literature (5)

14 March 2019

Paige Smith’s Don’t Be A Litterbug- Blog 4

The topic of this project was to reach out to the communities youth in order to teach them

that the action of littering can have a negative outcome for the planet. Together, my partner and I

were hoping to teach students from one second grade class and one third grade class that littering

is bad and we aimed to make the process of learning so as exciting as we could. Through this

process we hoped to encourage the students to pick up after themselves and possibly anyone else

they see littering. Our first step was to just conduct a solid plan with activities that would grasp

the interests of young minds. Next, we scheduled the days that we would be entering the two

classrooms and made a concrete plan of what we wanted to accomplish. The last step was to

follow through with our set plan and teach the kids to not be litterbugs. The biggest obstacle that

was encountered was scheduling dates to go into the classrooms. Due to the fact that I have a job,

a lot of the scheduling has to be put into place around my work schedule. On the first days with

the kids we read them a children's book about the importance of picking up litter. After this, we

allowed them to go around their campuses to pick up trash and fill it into a trash bag. On the

second days we made “litterbugs” out of recycled trash and once again, went around campus to

pick up any litter. Through this journey, I feel like a lot was accomplished. We really built a

bond with these kids in such a short amount of time and they really responded to our goals and

ideas. When we walked into the classrooms they immediately knew who we were and that a fun
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activity was about to take place. I am proud that we made a seemingly “small” problem within in

society somewhat achievable to beat all of the while making it fun. The kids were more than

happy to participate and were always sad when it was time to pack up and go. I personally

believe that my partner and I did make a difference and took some major steps towards solving a

problem within our community. The students are now more aware of the littering crisis that we

are being faced with and they are very eager to help. My advice to someone who is being faced

with the task of a Senior Capstone is to just find a problem or a task that really motivates you. If

you work with something that you are passionate about then it will not really be much of a

project at all but just another day full of steps moving forward for a better future.