Program teaches importance of protecting the environment, recycling

Samantha White, 6, ran behind a bush and found a wrapper and a fountain drink cup. She picked them up and threw them into her reusable green grocery bag."I'm trying to collect garbage to help the Earth," White said.White already had six pieces of trash in her bag that she found from scouring the grounds surrounding the Savoy Recreation Center, 402 Graham Dr. She said she hoped to find more trash than the 11 other children roaming around collecting garbage in their reusable bags.White and the other children collecting trash were participating in a contest to see who could find the most garbage littered on the ground. But no matter who had the most in their bag at the end of the search, everyone was a winner. They had all won because they had improved the environment for themselves and for others.This was the concept their instructors, Courtnie Swearingen, a senior at the University, and Julie Zientek, a junior at Eastern Illinois University, said they hoped the children would learn from the day's activity at Go Green Camp, a new summer program at the recreation center aimed at teaching children ages five to 12 how to protect the environment."I think we're all finally getting to understand the concept that we're ruining our planet," Swearingen said. "If we don't start to take care of it now, who knows what will happen in the next couple of generations."The activities the children participate in at the camp teach them what is good and what is bad for the environment as well as what they can do to save the environment, Swearingen said— and the younger they learn this, the better."If you can start young I think it's an idea that will grow with kids, and as they get older, they will teach it to their kids and can hopefully get us back on track," Swearingen said.She added that although some of the children were too young to grasp some of the deeper concepts about the environment, there were certain ideas everyone could understand."We do our best to try to get them at least to get the basics down," Swearingen said." They understand reduce, reuse, recycle."The instructors try to incorporate the "Three R's" as much as possible into the camp's activities, said Kip McDaniel, program director at the recreation center. He said the children made paper mache bowls, personalized bags and plastic bottle crafts all out of recycled materials throughout the week-long camp, which wrapped up on Friday, June 26.A favorite concept among children of all ages was the idea of reusing old materials to make new treasures."I really like making new creations, period, but I also like using recycled things because they're really good to use," said Mina Projansky, 8 of Urbana.Garret Gauze, 5, said he liked the outdoor activities, like collecting the garbage, but also enjoyed the messy crafts such as the paper mache."Recycling saves junk and you can make stuff out of it," Gauze said.Dakota Harris, 12, of Savoy said she had been watching environmental channels, and thought it would be nice to learn how she could "go green"."We need to recycle and help pick up, because a lot of stuff can be made out of recycled things," Harris said.McDaniel said while these same concepts will be instilled, new activities will be incorporated into the second session of the camp."We don't like to do the same things over and over again, we like to throw out new ideas, new imagination to the kids to help them learn more," McDaniel said.The second session will run from July 27 through July 31 and still has spaces available, McDaniel said. The registration deadline is July 20, and the cost of the camp is $42 for residents and $55 for non-residents.McDaniel said the creation of Go Green Camp was in response to parent feedback about wanting to teach their children to help the environment, and in collaboration with a larger effort on the part of the recreation center to go green.He said even small efforts such as keeping a scrap paper bin and turning off lights when leaving a room can make a contribution to the green effort, and encouraging these habits early on will make a difference for the future."We need to make them know at a younger age if you can help out our environment, it will help us out in the long run," McDaniel said.