A class of second grade students at Elmwood Elementary School teamed with Elmwood Park Village President Angelo “Skip” Saviano and the Public Works Department to help clean up trash, school officials announced in a newsletter to parents.
“Congratulations to our second-graders who read all about change makers and decided to make a positive impact on their community,” officials said in the April 14 issue of “Elmwood Express,” which publishes bi-weekly during the school year.
Public Works Director Peter Guenther told Pioneer Press in an email that Roberta Predovich, a second grade teacher at Elmwood, reached out to him to collaborate on an activity for students where they could be good citizens by helping in the community. The volunteer work took place April 11.
According to Predovich, the second graders were inspired after reading Libby Martinez’s “Change Makers,” a book about kids around the world who are making a difference in the world.
She said in the email the “second-graders talked about the book and discussed how anybody, no matter their age, can make a change in the world, it is just a matter of putting in the effort. We further discussed what they have done to help others.”
She said the discussion led her to call Guenther for what would become Elmwood Elementary School’s second grade “Change Makers Mission.”
The mission is described as a response to a few of the students asking if something could be done in the community to make a difference and them brainstorming as a class and concluding that they could “help clean up debris in Elmwood Park,” officials said.
Guenther bought pickers and trash bags, had four Public Works Department employees accompany the teachers and students who volunteered to pick up litter at four Elmwood Park locations, and reached out to the police department to coordinate police officer escorts to the sites, he said.
Predovich said Elmwood school provided gloves for the approximately 50 kids and adults who participated in the nearly hourlong morning activity. One person would pick while the other would hold the bag.
Four classrooms of kids and teachers picked up litter, with one class each at Central Park, Torpe Playground or Yellow Park, Kiddie Korral or Blue Park and around the school campus.
“Great job, second grade,” school officials said in the newsletter.
