BURBANK : Youths Study, Write About Environment

The essays, poems and short stories written by 1,200 Burbank middle school students meant that an important environmental message has gotten through to them.

At least that’s the opinion of Judith Johnston-Weston, executive director of the Burbank Media District Transportation Management Organization, which fights traffic congestion and pollution.

“I was really pleased they got it,” said Johnston-Weston. “They understood what we were talking about.”

The organization began a federally funded pilot project to incorporate environmental lessons into the curriculum at three Burbank middle schools two years ago.

At separate luncheons Tuesday, representatives of the organization awarded prizes to 10 children from both John Muir and David Starr Jordan middle schools for their creative writing assignments on traffic and smog. Another 10 students from Luther Burbank Middle School will be honored Thursday.

Andrea Burnett, a sixth-grader at Jordan won a bicycle--the grand prize--for her essay, “If Someone Had Cared.” Her essay is written from the point of view of a tree remembering its life and what pollution had done to it.

“These kids are incredibly creative,” said Johnston-Weston.

Another entry was in a style of a news report filed in the 21st Century. Another borrowed the style of Shakespeare’s famous “To be or not to be” scene from Hamlet.

Each school had first-, second- and third-place winners, who received gift certificates to the Media City Center Mall.