By Staff
CASSOPOLIS – Cass County Conservation District recently held its annual sixth grade conservation poster contest, according to Executive Director Amy Druskovich.
This year's theme, "Water is Life," was about the importance of the conservation of fresh water, a very pertinent topic since Michigan is the Great Lake State.
In preparation for creating the posters, students learned about the water cycle, what a watershed is and how precious is the commodity of water.
Students then took this knowledge and created colorful and informative posters which delivered the message "Water is Life."
A total of 166 sixth grade students from Sam Adams Elementary School in Cassopolis and Edwardsburg Middle School participated.
Judges for the contest were George Fusko, retired biology teacher and Cass County Conservation District board member; Ann File, Cass County commissioner; and Doloros Meisterheim, artist.
The judges stated that they enjoyed seeing the effort put into the creation of the posters, and that the posters displayed the students' knowledge of the importance of water conservation.
Thanks to a generous donation from the Cass County chapter of Pheasants Forever, savings bonds were award to the top three winners.
First place, $250, was awarded to Donni Jae Harrington, Sam Adams Elementary; second place, $150, to Shawn Davis, Edwardsburg Middle School ; and third place, $100, to Kaitlyn McNeely, Sam Adams Elementary School .
Harrington's first- place poster has been entered into the Michigan Association of Conservation District Employees contest, where it will be judged among posters from Conservation Districts all over Michigan.
The winner of that contest is then entered in the National Association of Conservation Districts Contest and competes against posters from across the nation.