Deer Park Students Named State Champs in Environmental Competition

Students in fifth grade at Deer Park Elementary in New Port Richey decided this year to figure out a way to make people aware of the problem of “E-Waste,” an alias for discarded electronic devices.

They collected more than 350 pieces of electronic waste to recycle in a collection drive in February. Prior to that, they educated themselves and other students  about the problem of “E-waste,” which includes broken computers, cell phones, and other consumer products.

And for their efforts, their project was selected as state winner of the Disney Planet Challenge, a national contest in which students complete environmentally themed projects.

"All the work had to be done by us, the students” said Madison McDaniel, one of the sudents, during a presentation Monday.

The contest rewards the best project at the national level and also rewards state finalists. The Deer Park project was selected as state champ in the elementary school category for Florida but didn’t win a national award. Deer Park students will receive prize packages from Disney, and the winning teacher receives rewards, including $1,000.        

The effort was led and completed by students in Alondra Beatty–Woodall’s and Cheryl Gendebien’s classes.

The students worked on the project over the course of several months. They voted on what issue to concentrate on. They mapped out plans for goals and how to reach them.

They went on the morning announcements regularly to educate kids about e-waste. They created a museum about electronic waste, which includes broken computers, cell phones, and other consumer products. They promoted their drive and assessed how successful they were.

Check out the students' video about the project.

This isn't the first time Deer Patrk students have completed a project helping others. Last year, they raised money to fund building a well in .