Sunny skies, tons of people, great projects and an energetic Speak Out Competition defined the Tenth Annual Youth Summit at the Denver Zoo on Wednesday, May 2, 2007.
Co-presented by FR Earth Force and the Denver Zoo's Community Leadership Project (CLP), the Summit boasted the highest number of participants in years – nearly 1,200 attendees!Nearly 50 classes and student groups hosted interactive display booths that highlighted their service-learning work from the 2006-07 school year.
The issues addressed by these projects included:
- Helping to reduce stray pet populations!
- Promoting recycling in schools and homes!
- Xeriscaping the school garden!
- Making worm boxes to compost wasted food from the cafeteria!
- Combating graffiti on and around the school grounds!
The Front Range Earth Force Youth Action Board got the day started with a rousing Welcome Ceremony, including a special birthday song to commemorate the 10th Anniversary Summit and the ever-popular role call of participating schools.
The - fortunately sunny! – day also boasted Zoo Wildlife Shows, special animal demonstrations by Zoo docents, face-painting and spray-on body art, and - of course - the Speak Out Competition, planned by the Youth Action Board. Delicious ice cream sandwiches – generously donated once again by Robinson Dairy – capped off a great, high-energy day.
The Speak Out Competition gives participating student groups a chance to animate their service work beyond the required interactive table displays. Classes that participate in the Speak Out present a skit, song, rap, poem or other performance to creatively illustrate the service learning project they completed during the school year.
The winners of this year's Speak Out Competition were:
- First Place – Ms. Bower’s class, Park Hill K-8
- Second Place - Ms. Thomas' class, Cotton Creek Elementary
- Third Place – Ms. Hall & Ms. Haines' class, Pinnacle Charter
Special thanks to our VIP Speak Out Judges: Nicole Tembrock, from Denver Public School's Office of Character and School Culture; Matt Herbert, from the Denver Zoo; Seth Beres, from the Two Ponds Wildlife Refuge; and Asia Dorsey and Nick Becker from the Youth Action Board.
Schools at the Summit:
- Adams City Middle School (YMCA Youth Leaders)
- Asbury Elementary*
- Bruce Randolph Middle School (cityWILD)
- Cotton Creek Elementary*
- Ellis Elementary
- Gilpin K-8
- Johnson Elementary
- Lake Middle School
- Lincoln Elementary
- McMeen Elementary
- Merrill Middle School
- Mitchell Elementary
- Newlon Elementary**
- Oakland Elementary
- Park Hill K-8
- Pinnacle Charter School
- Schenck Elementary*
- Scott Carpenter Middle School
- Smedley Elementary
- Standley Lake High School
* Community Leadership Project sites ** Denver SCORES site
Community Partner Exhibitors at the Summit:
- Adams County/Commerce City Wastewater
- City and County of Denver Division of Wastewater Management
- Denver Dumb Friends League
- Greenprint Denver
- Million Trees Initiative
- REI
- US EPA Environmental Justice Program
The 10th Annual Youth Summit would not have been possible without generous funding and support from Suncor Energy USA and the City of Denver Division of Wastewater Management.
The hard work of the members of our NCCC Ameri*Corps team and our volunteers from Regis University and Metro Volunteers, was critical to the day’s success!Very special thanks to the Denver Zoo, for the donation of space for this special day, and for all the support of its staff and volunteers!
For more information about the Annual Youth Summit, contact:
Anna Brower, FR Earth Force Communications & Development(303) 433-0016, ext. 1anna.brower@ef-den.org