OCSD Environmental Club announces Zero Waste Challenge winners

Three Oswego Middle School students recently found out they earned the top three prizes through the Oswego Environmental Club’s Zero Waste Challenge.

The club offers all Oswego City School District (OCSD) students in grades seven through 12 a challenge to establish at least one habit that positively benefits the environment.

Leah Capozzi finished first, Andrew Shaver was second and Peyton Bond took third place. All three students are in seventh grade at OCSD.

“It was a great year and I want to congratulate the winners on a job well done,” said Catherine Celeste, a middle school teacher and advisor to the Environmental Club. “Everyone who took part did some great work and hopefully we helped form some habits that will stick and help our planet.”

Throughout February, participants tried to form better environmental habits from a suggestion list and journaled their experience daily, taking photos and a final written reflection.

The Oswego Environmental Club awarded for first, second and third place, respectively, prizes of $100, $50 and $25 to each student. The same amount for each winner was also donated to a nonprofit environmental organization of each winner’s choice.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American produces about 4.4 pounds of trash per day.

Students who took part in the challenge were asked to practice one or multiple habits including walking or riding a bike instead of using a car, using reusable water bottles instead of plastic, composting with worms instead of throwing food waste away, using reusable straws, recycling, saving leftover food, turning off lights when not in use, buying in bulk to reduce packaging waste and avoiding disposable plates and utensils.



Pictured above, from left, are Capozzi, Shaver and Bond.