HSWCD set for ‘Conservation Matters’ poster contest and tree-planting
By LINDA CHION KENNEY
With applications open for its summer poster contest for school-aged children, the Hillsborough County Soil and Water Conservation District last month announced the winners of the 2021 school-year poster contest, focused on the theme, “Healthy Forests, Health Communities.”
“It’s incredible the different ways that kids interpret our poster contest themes every contest,” said Betty Jo Tompkins, HSWCD executive director. “It’s a great opportunity for us to educate young people on the value of conservation in an entertaining and motivational way.”
The summer contest, Tompkins added, “allows us the chance to engage in summer school programs, including those at parks and recreation centers as well as with individual families and students.”
In addition to the “Why Conservation Matters” summer poster contest, the HSWCD is also preparing for the June 12 tree planting, which is open to the first 200 Hillsborough County residents who register. This has been made possible by a donation of 20,000 long-leaf pine seedlings from the Sustany Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to enhance the quality of life in Tampa Bay through its sustainability efforts.
Registration, which is now open, is capped at the first 200 registrants due to COVID-19 restrictions. The pine-seedling planting is set for the Lower Green Swamp Preserve in Plant City, at 3540 East Knights Griffin Road. The pre-registration deadline is June 4, with additional sign-ups allowed should spots remain open. For information and a registration form, visit: www.HillsboroughSWCD.com and click blogs.
In addition to Hillsborough County Conservation and Environmental Lands Management, which is providing the planting location, additional event presenters include TREE Inc., a nonprofit that strives to beautify and reforest the Tampa Bay area through the planting of native trees, and Rotary International, through its local service clubs.
“Supporting the Environment” this year became Rotary’s newest area of focus, joining peace-building and conflict prevention; disease prevention and treatment; water, sanitation and hygiene; maternal and child health; basic education and literacy; and community economic development.
Both the poster contests and the tree-planting also fall under the umbrella of the HSWCD’s Hillsborough 100 Conservation Challenge, launched in 2016. The annual showcase of “Action Awareness Projects” covers a wide range of efforts, including community gardening and road cleanup campaigns, tree plantings, micro-irrigation workshops, battery recycling, river cleanups and rainwater harvesting.
Open to families, individuals and groups, including schools, service clubs, nonprofits, businesses and more, the Hillsborough 100 effort aims to hammer home the theme that “Conservation is everybody’s business,” whether they reside in rural, urban, inner-city or suburban communities.
As for the HSWCD school-year poster contest, run in coordination with the National Association of Conservation Districts, certificates of appreciation were distributed last week to about 300 entrants, including students at Center Academy and at Kids Community College Southeast in Riverview.
Cash awards are given for first- second- and third-place finishers in both the junior grade categories (K-1, 2-3 and 4-6) and the senior grade categories (7-9 and 10-12). First-place finishers in the “Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities” contest will advance to area competition and, if they qualify, on to the state and national level.
Finishing first in the “D” category for grades 7 to 9 was John R.F. Humphreys, a homeschooled student from Riverview. Honorable mention in the same category went to Jonique Taylor, a ninth-grader at Jule F. Sumner High School in Balm/Riverview. Rounding out the category were Brayden Newell (second place, Learning Gate Community School) and Skyla Jones (Ferrell Girls Preparatory Academy).
Placing in the grades 10-12 categories were Giulia Jones (first place), Daniel Pena (second place), Alexis Cowles (third place) and Katelynn Lauricello and Ava Smail (honorable mention), all from Dr. Kiran C. Patel High School, a charter school in Tampa.
Placing first in the three junior grade categories were Lily Anna Price, Adrian J. Colon-Gonzalez and Vivien Meshanko; in second place: Persistence Jones, Teagan Worley and Eloise Santiago; in third place: Samuel Christian Jackson, Jocelyn Jones and Avery Smith; in the honorable mention category: Daniel Newell, NiHarika Sudarshan, Audrey Bryk, Cassandra Wilson, Daniella Bautista and Jordin Oluwadura Oremosu. Collectively, the students are from Lutz Preparatory School and the Learning Gate Community School, both charter schools, and St. Paul’s Catholic School.
In addition to the qualifying entries, “Miss Hannah’s ninth-grade-class” entered one, class-wide submission from Center Academy, a private school in Riverview.
As for the summer contest, conducted solely by the HSWCD, entries are due Aug. 20. Each entry must include in the original artwork the stated theme: “Why Conservation Matters.” For rules and an entry form, visit: www.HillsboroughSWCD.com and click for blogs. All poster contest entrants are eligible to receive a free ticket to the Hillsborough County Fair, staged at the Hillsborough County Fairgrounds at 215 Sydney Washer Road in Dover. Posters will be on display at the eight-day fair, which is set to run in a time period from Sept. 23 to Oct. 3. For fair information, visit www.HillsboroughCountyFair.com/. For more on HSWCD offerings, call Betty Jo Tompkins at 813-477-8332 or email bjt6890@yahoo.com/.