Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman and the Town Board hosted a May 14 reception for dozens of students and parents at Town Hall, where the annual video contest winners were honored for their work discouraging the use of plastic bags.
The theme of this year’s contest was “Plastic Aint My Bag.”
The contest required participants to produce a three-minute video illustrating why using plastic grocery bags ultimately harms the environment and its inhabitants. The students’ submissions incorporated music, graphics, and a wealth of eye-opening information.
“This contest is a way of engaging our students so they can learn why protecting the environment is so important,” Kaiman said to the assembled crowd of proud students and parents.
The video competition is one of a number of efforts established over the years by the Town to protect the environment. Other programs include the town-wide School Recycling Partnership Program in which approximately 40,000 students participate, and the Annual Trashion Show which debuted in the fall and featured students modeling couture they created from recycled materials.
The winners of this year’s video contest are:
Early Childhood
1st Place: Parkville School – “Save Our Mascot” – 19 Students
Elementary School
1st Place: Sousa Elementary – “Reduce the Bags” – Isaac Goldstein and Aidan Zeidman
2nd Place: Sousa Elementary – “Reusable Hokey Pokey” – Sabine Rosaya, Ava Fasciano, and Maddie Gallager
3rd Place: E.M. Baker Elementary – “Plastic in the Sky, Reusable in the Hand” – Sally Sarker and Vera Cho
Honorable Mention: Sousa Elementary – “Good Morning North Hempstead” – Chiara Maddison and Lindsay Collins
Honorable Mention: Notre Dame – “A Fish Tale” – Julie Manfro, Khihara Charles, Brayden Curran, and Olivia Mantoni
Secondary School
1st Place: Manhasset High School – “My Wish” – Skyler Gaccione, and Julia Henry
2nd Place: Westbury High School – “Drastic Plastic” – Halaa Menasy, Emy Sosa, Jason Fuentes, Jeffrey Alvarez, Stephanie Ventura, Ivan Cortes
3rd Place: Manhasset High School – “Plastic Ain’t My Bag” – Caprice Catalano, Katarina Catallo
Honorable Mention: Weber Middle School – “8 Ways I Despise Plastic Bags” – Jeremy Ettlinger and Adam Fried
The videos can be seen at the Town of North Hempstead’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/townofnorthhempstead. For more information please call 311.
