Winnters of the Bethpage Water District’s poster contest
The Bethpage Water District (BWD) recently honored the winners of this year’s annual water conservation poster contest with a ceremony at the Bethpage Public Library. A yearly tradition, in partnership with the Bethpage Union Free School District, all of the Bethpage community’s fifth graders were invited to design posters depicting different ways members of the community could conserve water. The District received more than 220 submissions from students this year for this creative and fun activity that serves to teach the importance of protecting and preserving Long Island’s sole-source aquifer.
“All of us at the District were so impressed with the students’ submissions during this year’s water conservation poster contest that it made picking winners very difficult,” said BWD Commissioner Theresa M. Black. “Their creativity is inspirational and we are truly proud that the youth of this community understand the ways to conserve water so well. Water is our most precious natural resource and something we all too often take for granted, but every student that participated gives us confidence that the future of our water supply and the protection of our aquifer is in good hands.”
The winners for the poster contest are as follows:
Central Boulevard School
1st Place – Angelina Dunn
2nd Place – Manveer Singh
3rd Place – Haris Cenanovic
Charles Campagne School
1st Place – Eva Rojas
2nd Place – Christian Tararache
3rd Place – Amrit Manda
Kramer Lane Elementary School
1st Place – Blake Valente
2nd Place – Jake Wu
3rd Place – Leyna Nguyen
“We’ve been doing the water conservation poster contest for years now, but this year has certainly been one of the best turnouts we’ve had,” said BWD Chairman John Coumatos. “We have to give all the credit in the world to the school district’s leadership for making lessons about the importance of water, where it comes from and everything that happens in between pulling it from the ground to the delivery to homes, part of the curriculum. The Bethpage Water District looks forward to building upon this positive relationship to ensure the youth of Bethpage continue to have the opportunity to understand all that goes into providing them high-quality water each and every day.”
The overwhelming participation in this year’s poster contest was achieved through a focused partnership with the Bethpage Union Free School District that helped integrate many lessons into the existing curriculum surrounding the water cycle and related topics. The BWD and the school district first partnered up earlier in the year for an effort that provided every fifth-grade student with an opportunity to tour a state-of-the-art water production facility and learn how each of the treatment components worked as well as other lessons about water conservation and preservation.
“Bethpage schools have been working alongside our important community partners at the Bethpage Water District to help educate our students on the importance of clean water in our community and the intense lengths our Bethpage Water District goes through to ensure clean drinking water for all,” said Bethpage Union Free School District Superintendent David Schneider. “Our 5th grade students recently visited Plant 6 for an interactive field trip to extend the learning experience on our Water Cycle Unit from the classroom into the real world.”
