Middle school’s recycling, garden project wins national grand prize

Champion Theme Middle School was chosen the $5,000 Grand Prize winner of the national Carton 2 Garden Contest sponsored by Evergreen Packaging, a paperboard carton maker, and KidsGardening.org. The school's entry reused more than 1,000 cartons. A statement from the school said, "We have not just completed a required "entry" for a competition, but we have initiated a change for environmental stewardship, awareness into planting, and nutrition. Our project is further unique as it was student-driven starting with the goal setting. Our project is also unique as it is comprised of mini projects that educated over 150 students from grades 6-8 and 25 elementary school students. Another uniqueness to our project includes the fact that our whole school, students, teachers, custodians, cafeteria staff, community members, and families came together to make a difference not only in our school garden but also at the community food pantry garden where the students donated cartons with seeds and created bird feeders."