St. Jude's first grade celebrates Earth Day

St. Jude Thaddeus School first grade students again spent their Earth Day cleaning their school and neighboring blocks, as well as Pepin Park.

St. Jude First Grade Teacher Amber Frazier was in charge of this event, which she has held for several years.

Monday, students and a few parents met at St. Jude's at 11 a.m. The group cleaned the square block before moving onto Pepin Park. Lunch was served around noon followed by more cleaning of the inside of St. Jude school. The students were then rewarded with Dairy Queen treats.

The cleanup started at St. Jude Thaddeus School on Seventh Avenue, covered Fifth Street north of St. Jude's, back down Sixth Avenue to Fourth Avenue, then into the St. Jude's courtyard and into the playground and also cleaned up in Pepin Park.

Earth Day has been the topic of discussion in Frazier's classroom for the last week.

"We have discussed in our classroom the consequences of pollution on our planet. We have learned about both air and water pollution, discussed the three R's, and wrote short paragraphs about why it is important to keep our planet clean," she said.

The students talked about how important the cleanup was.

"We found a knife and somebody could have stepped on it," first grader Theo Larson said

"We also talked about how we can reuse things in our daily life as something else and how we can reduce our usage of water and electricity in our homes," Frazier said.

"I think it is important that students are taught about the importance of protecting and preserving the environment around them. Those kids are going to be our future," she added. "I am proud of my class and how inspired they were to make a difference. I hope they always remember to pick up around them when they are out and about, even though it may not always be fun."

Bennett Thornton said the best part of the day was, "getting Dilly bars."

Adalee Phillips said the most memorable part of the day was "finding lots of garbage."

Mazie Dolphay's favorite thing about the Earth Day was "cleaning up."

Margaret Carroll had a butterscotch Dilly bar and had fun "picking up trash."

"Earth Day means picking up all the garbage and having fun picking up the garbage," Dylyn McIntosh said, while eating an ice cream sandwich.

Frazier said her goal with the event was to "raise awareness for the need to keep our local community, as well as everywhere we visit, clean of trash and pollution."