Students’ Project Citizen seeks to keep plastic bags out of environment, draws attention of local TV

By Jen Cowart
Posted 5/12/16

The students in Theresa Manera’s fifth-grade class at Rhodes Elementary School each year have the privilege of participating in Project Citizen, a civics project that connects curriculum areas and …

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Students’ Project Citizen seeks to keep plastic bags out of environment, draws attention of local TV

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The students in Theresa Manera’s fifth-grade class at Rhodes Elementary School each year have the privilege of participating in Project Citizen, a civics project that connects curriculum areas and puts the children’s prior learning to the test to see if they can apply the skills and knowledge they’ve learned in the classroom to real life. At just 10 and 11 years old, they start to change the world.

This year, for the first time ever, their efforts have reached beyond the pages of the newspaper and into the arena of television news, as their story was picked up by Walt Buteau of Channel 12 and run on “The Rhode Show,” a local morning news program.

“Tosin George wrote the initial email to Channel 12, and she’s being interviewed by Walt Buteau today,” Manera said proudly last week.

In the hours before the show’s taping, the students worked diligently in their groups to make more progress on their project as lights and cameras were set up all around them.

Each year, the students in Manera’s class brainstorm ideas on how to address various problems. They vote on one, and together – through hours of research, interviews, field trips, guest speakers, and group work – put together a presentation board and portfolio binder that showcase the various parts of the project. They identify the problem, their class policy, alternative policies, and their action plan, as well as all of the statistics and research they’ve done.

This year’s project involves the prohibition of plastic bags from state recreational areas. The students’ goal is to have signs placed in front of and throughout such areas notifying visitors of a ban on the bags.

“Their love for animals took precedence. They knew how much these plastic bags affect the environment and animal life,” Manera said. “We took a field trip to Save The Bay a couple of weeks ago, and in just 10 minutes of walking the beach they found four or five plastic bags littered along the way.”

Once a problem has been agreed upon by the entire class, they are split into smaller groups, with each taking on a portion of the project while reaching out to a wide variety of lawmakers and businesses and community partners who might be affected by or be able to help with their class policy.

“Each group is responsible for one portion of the board and all of the work that goes along with it, including the essay that goes with it,” Ana Chin said.

This year’s guest speakers have included Bob Paquette from the state Department of Environmental Management, state Rep. Arthur Handy, state Sen. Joshua Miller, Tony Fonseca of the company Packaging and More, and representatives from the media. The students have also reached out to the mayor’s office, the governor’s office, and Cranston Superintendent Jeannine Nota-Masse, who was scheduled to visit the class on May 12.

“Bob Paquette from the DEM sent them all his findings and he told them that his 2017 goal is to ban all plastic bags at the state park areas. Rep. Handy said he would put in a resolution on their behalf at the State House, and Sen. Miller agreed that he also wants a law which would ban Styrofoam and plastic bags,” Manera said. “Tony Fonseca came in from Packaging and More, and he gave them the flip side of the issue. He talked about the cost of paper versus plastic and the cost of manufacturing and trucking costs. It’s important for them to have all of the information, both the pros and the cons so they know what they’re up against. They have to cite the advantages and the disadvantages to their policy.”

According to their class policy essay, the students have so far determined that there are more pros than cons to banning plastic bags.

Even though the class must come up with one main policy, they also much come up with alternative policies. Their alternative policies essay states that they have come up with four. They include signage, fines, lists of those violating the plastic bag rules, the implementation of community service hours for those who are littering, and even the use of an alternative type of bag, a corn based biodegradable plastic bag which is made from a renewable resource called polylactic acid (PLA).

The students were featured on Channel 12 over the weekend and this past Monday morning. The full interview can be seen on wpri.com.

“I am so proud of them,” Manera said. “They’re getting adults to listen to them and they are acting and presenting themselves in a manner as to get that respect and attention from adults. When we first start this project each year they think it’s not possible to make a change, to get adults to listen to them, but by the end of it, they realize that they can.”

The students in Manera’s class will soon be taking a trip to the State House to present their policy.

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