Gary Moskowitz
To Daisy Favela, the slogan for the year is "Litter Free in 2003."
That slogan will soon be visible throughout Glendale.
Daisy, a sixth-grader at Edison Elementary School, designed the
winning poster for the 10th annual "I Love My Neighborhood" poster
contest. The Committee for a Clean & Beautiful Glendale sponsors the
contest.
The committee selected Daisy's poster design from 70 finalists,
chosen from more than 10,000 entries.
"I wanted to express something that says everybody can help," said
Daisy, 12. "We can try to make our city clean. If it's not trashy,
the environment will be good. We can't keep polluting. Littering is
not good."
Daisy's poster shows a group of children, adults and a
sombrero-wearing donkey helping clean up trash.
A sign that reads "Every little bit hurts" hangs from the donkey.
One person is planting a tree and another is standing on a bridge
over a green field, surrounded by the slogans "Litter Free in 2003"
and "Anybody can help."
Daisy also drew a child in a wheelchair helping clean up trash.
She has a friend in class who is disabled, and she wanted to make
sure people know that handicapped children can help keep the
environment clean, too.
"Disabled kids can help too," Daisy said. "Some kids think they
can't do things we can do, but I wanted to prove them wrong."
Daisy's brother, Sergio Favela, was a finalist in the 2002 poster
contest.
Daisy's poster will be featured in a city of Glendale multimedia
pollution-prevention campaign and will be put on display at city
libraries and local schools, said Juan Gonzalez, the public education
coordinator for neighborhood services in Glendale. The poster can
also be viewed at www.ns.ci.Glendale.ca.us.
"What's really amazing is that [Daisy] just learned English three
years ago," Gonzalez said. "That shows it doesn't matter what kind of
child you are, and everybody can help contribute to the community."
Daisy and two finalists from each Glendale elementary school were
awarded with trophies, certificates and T-shirts last week at a
ceremony hosted by committee members and representatives of City
Council and the school board.
Chamlian Armenian School sixth-grader Areni Shahinian received the
Southland Disposal Recycling Award and Glendale Water & Power was
honored with the Outstanding Community Partner Award at the ceremony.
Glenoaks Elementary School and Chamlian received Outstanding School
Participation awards and Frank Gonzalez of Cerritos Elementary School
received the Mark Doyle Outstanding Educator Award.
Joshua Lee, a first-grader at Mountain Avenue Elementary School,
was the 2002 contest winner with his "Trash Busting Burro" poster
design. Daisy said she saw Joshua's "trash-busting burro" picture on
the registration form and wanted to include last year's theme with
her new theme.
