The winners
of Livingston Environmental Commission’s “Environmental
Awareness Essay Contest,” held in honor of Earth Day,
were announced at the Township Council Meeting on June
5, 2006. The contest involved the preparation of an essay
on ways to enhance Livingston’s environment with the common
theme being, “Identifying Livingston’s Natural Treasures
and Ways to Preserve Them.”
The
first place winner in the High School Category is Johnston
Jiaa for his essay entitled “Of All the Things in
Livingston” and the first place winner in the Middle School
Category is Katie Radin for
her essay entitled “Paint The Town Green!” The finalists
are Gaby Auerbach for her essay “Livingston’s Natural
Treasures," Christina Genualdi
for her essay about Littell’s Pond; Isaac
Cohen for his essay, “Livingston is Beautiful,” and
Tiffany Chu for her essay entitled
“Save Our Trees.”
This
contest was open to all students in the sixth to twelfth
grade levels who attend school in the Livingston. Middle
school students were to prepare a 300 word essay and the
length for high school students was approximately 500
words. Approximately 100 essays were submitted for the
contest. Various parks such as Littell’s Pond and Littell
People’s Park, the Pete Cilenti Complex at the National
Little League field and the surrounding area of Northland
Park and East Hills Park were recognized by the students
as Livingston’s natural treasures. They also wrote about
the special stands of trees near their schools, such as
the big tree at Harrison Elementary School, and our local
streams and reservoirs. Suggestions on ways to enhance
our environment ranged from riding a bicycle instead of
driving, to preserving open space; recycling paper products
and plastic bottles; preventing litter by putting trash
in garbage cans; preventing air and water pollution; protecting
wildlife habitat; and planting trees and flowers.
