By STEPHEN HAMMILL

Fifth-grader Louise Cardenas didn’t consider herself much of a drawer when she entered a city-wide T-shirt design contest meant to herald recycling.
When she was declared the winner, she couldn’t contain her surprise.

The City of Tampa Solid Waste department celebrated the winners of its inaugural America Recycles Day Poetry and T-shirt Design Project last week by presenting all participating students with shirts bearing the winning design.

Nina Stokes, Recycling Coordinator for the city of Tampa, was on hand at Cannella Elementary to present Cardenas with her award, which included a variety of gifts made exclusively from recycled materials, as well as a check for $100.

Cardenas attends Ms. Cox’s fifth-grade art class at Cannella Elementary. Her design was awarded first place in the elementary art category.

About her winning design, Cardenas said, “It was my idea. Ms. Cox supplied the paper. We had three lessons to learn to draw artistically.”

Linda Cox, the Art Specialist at Cannella Elementary, was responsible for getting her students involved in the project initially.

“I just loved her drawing,” said Cox. “When I first saw it I said ‘let’s expand this.’”

Cardenas’ drawing features swans silhouetted against a sunset, meant to convey the aspect of recycling being friendly to Mother Nature.

America Recycles Day occurs annually on Nov. 15 with the goal of encouraging Americans to recycle and to use recycled products.

The contest was designed to target elementary and middle school students in Hillsborough County, educating and informing them about the importance of recycling, waste reduction and protecting natural resources in an innovative way while showcasing students’ creative and artistic talents.

All submitted artwork was displayed in the City of Tampa Department of Solid Waste building. Employees were asked to cast votes for their three favorites.
Ms. Cox’s entire art class donned the T-shirts for the day as Cardenas received her award.

“The T-shirts themselves are made up of 50 percent recycled cotton and 50 percent recycled soda bottles,” said Stokes.

“We’re just trying to give the kids a chance to showcase their talents and also learn about the environment,” she said. “We practice what we preach.”

All of Ms. Cox’s students entered into the contest with a design of their own, while more than 800 students throughout the city submitted entries.
Participating students went to the department’s Web site and signed an online pledge form for which they received a pledge wristband, a recycling-information card and the winning T-shirt.

Stokes said the project was designed to drive home the message that recycling and waste reduction are very important and that all must do their part to protect and preserve natural resources.

The T-shirt features Cardenas’ design on the front, along with that of middle school first-place-winner Jenny Luong of Ben Hill Middle School, along with the winning poems on the back.

Cannella Elementary was featured as part of a Spotlight Tampa segment aired during the month of December on the City of Tampa’s CTTV.

The winning designs and poems can be viewed on the City of Tampa Department of Solid Waste’s Web site at http://www.tampagov.net/solidwaste.

For additional information or questions about recycling programs, contact Nina Stokes at 348-6507.