Ten Richmond elementary schools participated in the City of Richmond’s My School Sparkles contest, held in January to instill a sense of community pride and reduce littering and vandalism at their schools and neighbourhood parks.
And while all 10 schools benefited from participating, three proved to be sparkling winners – Sea Island elementary, Spul’u’kwuks and Anderson.
The contest began with students at each of their schools watching a City-sponsored live musical comedy show called Clean Up Your Act – Make Richmond Sparkle, performed by DreamRider Theatre.
From the performance, now in its sixth year, students learn about the harmful effects of littering, graffiti and vandalism, and what they can do to keep their communities sparkling clean.
The My School Sparkles contest is designed to engage students to practise what they have learned by cleaning up litter on school property and in city parks.
Schools are evaluated on levels of littering before and after the show.
The objective was to see if any noticeable positive changes took place regarding litter.
Sea Island and Spul’u’kwuks won the School that Always Sparkles award for having the least amount of litter before and after the show.
Anderson was awarded the School that Now Sparkles award for showing the most improvement after watching the Clean Up Your Act – Make Richmond Sparkle performance.
For more information on litter prevention and clean up, visit www.richmond.ca/services/recycling/cleaningup/litter.
