The Bethpage Water District (BWD) recently honored the winners of this year’s annual water conservation poster contest with a ceremony at the Bethpage Public Library. A yearly tradition, in partnership with the Bethpage Union Free School District, all of the Bethpage community’s fifth graders were invited to design posters depicting different ways members of the community could conserve water. The District received more than 220 submissions from students this year for this creative and fun activity that serves to teach the importance of protecting and preserving Long Island’s sole-source aquifer.
“All of us at the District were so impressed with the students’ submissions during this year’s water conservation poster contest that it made picking winners very difficult,” said BWD Commissioner Theresa M. Black. “Their creativity is inspirational and we are truly proud that the youth of this community understand the ways to conserve water so well. Water is our most precious natural resource and something we all too often take for granted, but every student that participated gives us confidence that the future of our water supply and the protection of our aquifer is in good hands.”
The winners for the poster contest are as follows:
Central Boulevard Elementary School
· 1st Place - Angelina Dunn
· 2nd Place - Manveer Singh
· 3rd Place - Haris Cenanovic
Charles Campagne Elementary School
· 1st Place - Eva Rojas
· 2nd Place - Christian Tararache
· 3rd Place - Amrit Manda
Kramer Lane Elementary School
· 1st Place - Blake Valente
· 2nd Place - Jake Wu
· 3rd Place - Leyna Nguyen
The District’s Board of Commissioners deliberated on the many poster submissions and selected the finalists based on creativity, design, and the overall water conservation message. This year, the District selected first, second and third place winners from the three elementary schools within the District. Each winner received a trophy and personalized certificate for their winning poster designs.
“We’ve been doing the water conservation poster contest for years now, but this year has certainly been one of the best turnouts we’ve had,” said BWD Chairman John Coumatos. “We have to give all the credit in the world to the school district’s leadership for making lessons about the importance of water, where it comes from and everything that happens in between pulling it from the ground to the delivery to homes, part of the curriculum. The Bethpage Water District looks forward to building upon this positive relationship to ensure the youth of Bethpage continue to have the opportunity to understand all that goes into providing them high-quality water each and every day.”
The overwhelming participation in this year’s poster contest was achieved through a focused partnership with the Bethpage Union Free School District that helped integrate many lessons into the existing curriculum surrounding the water cycle and related topics. The BWD and the school district first partnered up earlier in the year for an effort that provided every fifth-grade student with an opportunity to tour a state-of-the-art water production facility and learn how each of the treatment components worked as well as other lessons about water conservation and preservation.
“Bethpage schools have been working alongside our important community partners at the Bethpage Water District to help educate our students on the importance of clean water in our community and the intense lengths our Bethpage Water District goes through to ensure clean drinking water for all,” said Bethpage Union Free School District Superintendent David Schneider. “Our 5th grade students recently visited Plant 6 for an interactive field trip to extend the learning experience on our Water Cycle Unit from the classroom into the real world.”
“We’re very inspired by the interest the school district has had in partnering with us, but even more so with the engagement from the students,” said BWD Commissioner Scott Greco. “There really was a sense of pride and accomplishment in the fact that we could see the lessons learned during the plant tours being reflected in so many of the poster submissions. We look forward to continuing and broadening this partnership for years to come.”
The finalists’ posters are available for viewing at the District’s website at bethpagewater.com/2022postercontest. For more information on water conservation, please feel free to visit bethpagewater.com or contact the Water District at 516.931.0093 or info@bethpagewater.com.