Countywide : Student’s Recycling Logo Wins Contest

Grace Wang believes that the only chance for a brighter future is if people start recycling and reducing waste.

“There’s only one planet that we have, so that’s why it’s important to start recycling,” said the 12-year-old seventh-grader at Harry C. Fulton Middle School in Fountain Valley.

Wang was among 500 students from public and private schools in Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley who entered a logo design contest aimed at promoting awareness of environmental issues. Wang was awarded the grand prize for designing the best logo, which depicts a hole in the Earth’s ozone and the need for a cleaner environment.

“Animals are getting extinct because the rain forest is being cut down,” she said. “It shows that we can do something to save our Earth.”

Sponsoring the contest was the Environmental Education Committee, a coalition of staff members from the cities of Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach, as well as business leaders, citizens, educators and representatives from Rainbow Disposal Co. Inc., the refuse hauler for the two cities.

“The logo contest was a way to promote discussion of environmental issues at home and in the classroom,” said Susan Lynn, environmental programs manager for Fountain Valley.

Students in kindergarten through eighth grade were asked to create a logo that depicted the need to reduce, reuse and recycle, Lynn said.

As the grand prize winner, Wang received a $100 check and a T-shirt bearing her logo. Twelve first-place and honorable-mention winners received certificates, plaques and T-shirts bearing their logos. The three first-place winners also received $25 checks.

Rainbow Disposal picked up the tab for the cash donations and bought the T-shirts.

Fountain Valley Mayor Laurann Cook and Huntington Beach Mayor Grace Winchell judged the entries.

Lynn said that Wang’s design will be featured on public education literature about waste management issues, such as recycling.