The Southwest Georgia Section sponsored the CCED 2012 Illustrated Poem Contest, with 174 entries. The best poem winners were presented their awards at the Earth Day Festival in Drexel Park on Saturday April 21. The local section with the help of SMACS group at Valdosta State University set up a booth to practice the recycle of plastics and demonstrate CO2 properties. Pictures and news of the event are posted at the Facebook page: Science Saturday Chemistry at VSU. About 50 visitors were given the CCED 2012 newsletter. We counted with about 15 volunteers throughout the day and we only left the park only because it started to rain =).
The San Diego Section of the ACS participated in an Earth Day celebration in Balboa Park on Sunday, April 22, 2012. EarthFair, produced annually for the past 23 years by the non-profit organization San Diego EarthWorks, is the largest free annual fair in the world! This year the event attracted over 60,000 attendees.
ACS volunteers distributed the Celebrating Chemistry publication and shared ideas on the conservation of resources to reduce, reuse and recycle. Activities were designed to educate, entertain and inspire youth in the spirit of Earth Day.
The San Diego Section displayed the reuse of paper, educating attendees on the resource recovery of paper recycling while creating fun crafts from paper. Six volunteers worked at the table in the children’s activity area. Children worked on crafts throughout the day making paper beads ( from recycled ACS National MeetingSpring 2012 pocket guides) and bookmarks from seed paper ( donated by San Diego Green Field Paper Company . Parents and teachers took home some great ideas for teaching chemistry.
Julann Miller, SDACS Earth Day Coordinator
The Georgia Local Section's week-long celebration of Earth Day began with our monthly dinner meeting on April 17 when the topic of solar energy was discussed by speaker Dr. Ian Cooper (Georgia Tech). On Friday, April 20 the local section partnered with Georgia Tech chemistry students to exhibit at one of the 70+ booths at the 15th annual Georgia Tech Earth Day Fair. http://www.earthday.gatech.edu/ Our booth was awarded the "Best Public Awareness" Prize (our second honor in the past 5 years). The local section was also a co-sponsor along with ChEmory (chemistry students of Emory University) of a talk on Monday, April 23 by Dr. Bob Peoples, Director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute. Finally, the local section congratulates two local students [Evelyn Kim (2nd Grade), Johns Creek Elementary School and Chloe Lee (5th Grade), Burnette Elementary School] who were winners of illustrated poem contest. Their winning poems were entered in the national ACS contest (but, alas, did not win).
The Orlando Section of the ACS Celebrates Earth Day 2012
The ACS Orlando Section congratulates the winners of the 2012 ACS Earth Day Poetry Contest.
K-2: Sydney Costa, Volusia Pines Elementary School, Lake Helen, Florida
Greydon Edwards, Volusia Pines Elementary School, Lake Helen, Florida
Sara Wells, Volusia Pines Elementary School, Lake Helen, Florida
Josiah Hilton, Volusia Pines Elementary School, Lake Helen, Florida
3-5: 1st place, Shira Behore, Tomoka Elementary, Ormond Beach, FL
2nd place, Christopher Fortes, George Marks Elementary, DeLand, FL
3rd place, Breana Boies, Manatee Cove Elementary, Orange City, FL
6-8 1st place, Kenneth Marlon, Narcoossee Middle School, St Cloud, FL
2nd place, Marie Carr, Indian Trails Middle School, Winter Springs, FL
3rd place, A. Pugh, Narcoossee Middle School, St Cloud, FL
9-12 1st place, Demetrius Simmons, Olympia High School, Orlando, FL
2nd place, Danielle Frew, Olympia High School, Orlando, FL
3rd place, Imani Rodriguez, Olympia High School, Orlando, FL
First place poems from grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 were sent to the National ACS Outreach Office for consideration at the National level.
Click here to see the winning poems.
Congratulations to our winners, and thanks to all students, their teachers, and their parents for your participation.
ACS-Orlando poetry contest winners receiving their awards and reading their poems at Earth Day celebrations, April 21st, 2012 at Lake Eola Park, Orlando, Florida. From left to right: Miss Breana Boies (Manatee Cove Elem., 3rd place, grades 3-5) receives her award from Outreach Committee Chair Dr. Harry Price (Stetson); Miss Shira Behore (Tomoka Elem., 1st place, grades 3-5) reads her poem; Mr. Demetrius Simmons (Olympia High School, 1st place, grades 9-12) reads his poem; Miss Danielle Frew (Olympia High School, 2nd place, grades 9-12) reads her poem; Mr. Christopher Fortes (George Marks Elem., 2nd place, grades 3-5) enjoys a photo-op with his family.
Poetry was only one part of the Orlando ACS Earth Day celebration at Lake Eola Park in Orlando. Visitors to our tent met chemists and talked about sustainability, recycling, green chemistry, and alternative energy. Students from ACS student sections of UCF, Florida Tech, Stetson and Valencia College were also on hand to assist with the event and greet visitors. Scientists from the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) brought items to demonstrate photovoltaics and solar generation of hydrogen to power a hydrogen fuel cell car. Companies such as GreenCore Composites, Inc. displayed biocomposite materials made from plastic and cellulose. Visitors also saw samples of recycled plastic, a demonstration of water purification and examples of biomass utilization.
Dr. Steve Frazier talks about plastic recycling with poetry contest winner Miss Shira Behore (1st place, grades 3-5) and her father.
We wish to thank all our volunteers and our visitors who made this event such a success!
Submitted on behalf of Sally Mitchell, CCED coordinator of the Syracuse Local Section:
On April 19th, 2012, the Syracuse Section spread the Earth Day message at BMS's Earth Day event in Syracuse, NY. Participants in the event provided information on a variety of services available to employees to help the environment including solar energy, home energy services, cloth baby diapers, food-coop opportunities, corporate sustainability initiatives, and more. Sally Mitchell and Bill Ayling brought along demonstrations from the Innovative Projects Grant and wowed the audience with some great demos. Way to go!
Sally Mitchell was the master demonstrator and provided lively demonstrations set to music. To the song "Over the Rainbow," she demonstrated a wide range of color changes using indicators added to different pH solutions. She also presented demonstrations to help students understand the concept of density and the properties of the substance used in disposable diapers. The ACS-Syracuse Section booth also included an exhibit for "Pennies for Pure Water." Employees of Bristol Myers Squibb were enthusiastic to learn of the opportunities available to ACS members.
