Kids helping to keep Merrick beautiful

Since the 1960s, the annual Keep-A-Merrick Beautiful contest has challenged students at local elementary schools and Merrick Avenue Middle School to think deeply about their community and the environment. 2015 was no different.

This year children crafted posters and penned essays on “The Future of Merrick and the World Finding Renewable Energy Sources.” Contest winners were announced during a joyous ceremony at Levy-Lakeside Elementary School in Merrick on June 2.

Faith Laursen, the former publisher of Merrick Life newspaper, started the contest with Ragna Murbach, a member of the Merrick Garden Club. Posters and essays were long published in the Life. Now they are published in the Merrick Herald Life.

In this year’s contest, first-grader Theodore Ransom wrote, “One day I would like to run everything in my house with the sun. Or maybe even better yet, there are other ways I can’t forget. I bet I could power all my TVs if I build a tower to trap the breeze.”

Second-grader Jay Sarju composed a poem, “Solar Panels”:
“Use solar panel to make energy.
A hero to our community you will be.
You won’t use electricity from a power line.
You will use the sun, and that is fine.”

Third-grader Charlotte Tannenbaum also wrote a poem, “The Sun and Her Warmth”:
“The sun shined brightly in the sky,
She looked down at Earth from up high.
She wondered and thought how can I help them?
She focused on the town of Merrick, quite a gem.

“She asked her friend Mr. Cloud
If he would help to make her proud.
To create new energy sources working with him,
This special guest made him grin.”’

And fifth-grader Joseph Guastafeste wrote, “Why not solar energy? Why not help Merrick and America stay beautiful? You can do this by using solar energy. You save a lot by using solar energy, including oil and other non-renewable products that are limited to us.”

For a complete lists of winners and sponsors, see below.

And the winners are...