DOWAGIAC — Outside of Dowagiac’s city hall, a group of Cass County children wearing colorful bands around their heads stood around a low-to-the-ground, oblong structure covered by a white sheet.

Following a short ceremony and dedication, the children’s excitement grew as they readied to pull the sheet back to reveal a fish-shaped structure. The sculpture was created using trash — tires, water bottles, tin cans, plastic bags and more — all of which was collected by the children in Dowagiac.

The creation of the sculpture, which remained in front of city hall throughout the weekend, was part of an annual summer camp hosted last week through a collaboration between the Grace Center and the One World Center, 56968 Dailey Road, Dowagiac. Each year, the camp, which is open to Cass County youth ages 6 to 14, has a different theme. In previous years, topics have included respecting nature and learning about the world. This year, children learned about protecting the environment and the effects of pollution. 

“We want to teach the children of Dowagiac to take care because plastic pollution gets into our waterways and is eaten by our fish,” said Elisabeth Axelsen, a teacher at the One World Center. “We add in poems and songs as part of the whole project, so the children learn, and they also express themselves.”

“This is all about teaching them how to make a difference, mainly locally,” added Selina Ivens, of the Grace Center. “This is our home. We love our home and our county. We teach them how to make a difference while always having fun.”

The children participated in several activities to learn more about protecting the environment, including visits to the landfill and water treatment plant. However, the most significant project, according to camp organizers, was the trash sculpture. For the sculpture, campers collected trash for 45 minutes and used much of that trash to create a work of art. Though no official weight was calculated, organizers estimated that the children collected more than 100 pounds worth of trash.

“These kids got to see and experience things with their own hands, and they got really serious about it right away,” Ivens said.  “We know that [the children] are going to remember this. We know that they are going to teach it to someone else. If just one person a day throws their things in the recycling bin, these kids have made a difference.”

For many of the children who participated in the summer camp, it was a positive experience. Several students said they plan to take better care to recycle appropriately.

“Pollution has a negative impact on our lakes and oceans, and it harms our planet,” said Kirsha Hubbard, 13. “When we don’t practice recycling, when we throw trash into the water, we are being careless with our environment. Our solution should be to pick up trash along our lakes and to promote a healthy habitat. This is our planet, and this is our future.”

“[The camp] taught us that we can have fun while also doing good things,” added David Correll, 12. “So many people think they can’t do two things at once, but we learned that you can do a good thing while also having fun and being with friends.”

Though the children may have learned how to better care for the environment last week, it is not a task they can take on alone, Axelsen said. She added that she hopes that those who saw the trash sculpture at city hall over the weekend were also inspired to take better care of the planet.

“[The campers] were learning a lot about how to protect the planet, but the thing is, the planet is huge,” she said. “We can all do things to [protect the environment].”