Cedar Hill Junk Jamboree Shows Students how to Recycle

Students at Cedar Hill found a way to get a little more of out recycling at the school’s fifth Tools for Schools Junk Jamboree on Friday.

The event, which grew from the school Environmental club, allows students to create games out of papers, plastics and other recyclable goods to raise money for charity.

“The students develop games out recyclable materials, and other students come in here on a rotation to play,” principal Dr. Michael Raj said. “Everyone is charged a nickel to play and all of the money gets donated.”

Raj said that the money traditionally goes toward an environmental cause, but that this year’s money would go to Ghana to benefit the student school

“In the past, we’ve given the money to Save the Penguins, Save the Dolphins,” he said. “But this year, we wanted to keep things

Raj said that, while the students like playing the games, the real take away is from the event is to develop an environmentally friend attitude at an early age.

“It’s a lot of fun and it taps into the students’ creativity, but what it really does is give them an idea about the importance of recycling and helping the environment,” he said. “The students really latch on to the idea of reduce, reuse and recycle. We try to educate them on things they can do at home.”

According to Terry Becker, the Cedar Hill Home School Association president, the event helps to establish a recycling mindset in the students outside of the classroom.

“These kids are really big on recycling,” she said. “They come home and they keep an eye on us, making sure we’re doing what we can. Parents always here their kids say ‘We need to recycle that,’ so I think events like this really get the kids to think about recycling in an active way.

Raj said one of the things that makes the event so special is how much it is reliant on the students.

“They make the games, and staff the event,” he said. “The whole thing is student run.”