Winners of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s Litter Hawk Youth Award Program were recognized at a ceremony at the PA State Capitol Building on May 2.

Winning students, their families and legislators with winning students in their district were invited to attend a ceremony honoring the Litter Hawk Youth Award winners and participants.

Over 50 people showed up to support and celebrate the winners and their efforts. Shannon Reiter, President, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, Phoebe Coles, Chair, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and Ramez Ziadeh, Acting Executive Deputy Secretary for Programs, Department of Environmental Protection, provided remarks about the importance of educating youth about litter and anti-littering behaviors.

The program, funded by the Department of Environmental Protection, provides a way for students in kindergarten through grade 6 to express their concerns about litter through art, words or video.

Each participant completed a project specific to their grade level.

To complement our Open Your Eyes to Litter book series, the theme was: Open Your Eyes to Litter – Show Us What You See.

Judges were excited to see so many thoughtful submissions illustrating positive changes towards reducing the amount of trash found in our parks, school grounds and along our roadways. Almost a thousand students participated in this year’s program.

First and second place winners in each grade level received ribbons, certificates and a Litter Hawk decal.

First Place Winners

-- Mayameen Sarkar Manha, Kindergarten (poster), PA Leadership Charter School, Montgomery County

-- Hudson Hess, Grade 1 (poster), Reamstown Elementary School, Lancaster County

-- Veda Alluri, Grade 2 (poster), Shamona Creek Elementary School, Chester County

-- Nora Buchanan, Grade 3 (poster), George Washington Elementary School, Allegheny County

-- Beckett Blouir, Grade 4 (poster), West Greene Elementary, Greene County

-- Eleanor Mountz, Grade 5 (essay), Little Red School House, Chester County

-- Dion Cooper, Serenity Foster, RJ Green, Royce Lane, Grade 6 (video), Twin Valley Middle School, Berks County

Runners-Up Winners

-- Henry Trout, Grade K (poster), Norvelt Elementary School, Westmoreland County

-- Elizabeth Kalista, Grade 1 (poster), Holy Trinity Catholic School, Blair County

-- Tanesha "Gia" Iyer, Grade 2 (poster), PA Leadership Charter School, Lehigh County

-- Ava Milford, Grade 3 (poster), Knoch Primary School, Butler County

-- Josiah Haley, Grade 4 (poster), Homeschool, Clinton County

-- Alekhya Doddapaneni, Grade 5 (essay), Eden Hall Upper Elementary, Allegheny County

-- Everly Henderson, Mary Rhenish, Jacqueline Li, Emma Johnston, Grade 6 (video), Mars Area Centennial School, Butler County

"Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful wants to thank all the students who participated in our Litter Hawk Youth Award program this year. It’s been so rewarding to see the thoughtful and inspiring messages reflected in the hundreds of Litter Hawk entries. Each project is unique, reflecting the students’ own experiences, values and concerns. The nearly 1,000 entries are a clear indication that our youth are insisting on a cleaner, safer and more beautiful Pennsylvania," said Shannon Reiter, President of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful. "A big thank you to the families and educators for traveling to the state capitol and helping to make the awards celebration special. Congratulations to this year’s Litter Hawks! We hope to see everyone back again next year."

Winning entries will be displayed in the East Wing Rotunda of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building in Harrisburg through May 23.

The Litter Hawk Youth Award Program is offered annually and was created with funding provided by the Department of Environmental Protection.

Pennsylvania students can participate individually or as part of a lesson initiated by schools, environmental clubs, scouts or other organized groups.

To view winning entries and for more information about the program, visit the KPB Litter Hawk Awards webpage. Winners will also be featured on Pennsylvania Beautiful’s Facebook page..

For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful website.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates from KPB, Like them on Facebook, Follow on Twitter, visit their YouTube Channel.

The 2024 Pick Up Pennsylvania Initiative through May 31!  Questions should be directed to Michelle Dunn at 1-877-772-3673 Ext. 113 or send email to: mdunn@keeppabeautiful.org.

Keep PA Beautiful helps mobilize over 100,000 volunteers a year to pick up litter, clean up illegal dumping and beautify Pennsylvania.

(Photos: top-left: First Place, 1st grade: Hudson Hess, Shannon Reiter, KPB, Ramez Ziadeh, DEP and Hess family members; top-right: First place, kindergarten: Mayameen Sarkar Manha, her mother and Shannon Reiter, KPB; Bottom-- First place in the 6th grade video division: Twin Valley middle School students, their teacher, Jennifer Eversmeyer and Shannon Reiter, KPB)

Special Link:

-- We’re Heard This Before: ‘We’re Providing Jobs - Stopping Pollution Threatens Jobs’ - A Brief Review Of Pennsylvania’s Conservation History  [PaEN]

[Posted: May 7, 2024]

5/13/2024