Honored In DEP’s Annual Contest
City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Carter Strickland hosted last Tuesday, May 14, an awards ceremony for the 27th Annual Water Resources Art and Poetry Contest at Manhattan Community College’s Tribeca Performing Arts Center.
More than 1,000 students (grades 2-12) from New York City and watershed communities were honored for creating more than 750 original artwork and poetry entries that reflects an appreciation for New York’s water resources, wastewater treatment system, and the importance of water conservation.
In addition, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg issued a proclamation honoring all of the students who participated.
“Each year this contest provides students with an opportunity to learn about the amazing systems that supply more than nine million people with world class water, and have helped make our harbor cleaner than it has been in a century,” said Strickland. “Through hard work and creativity, these students are helping us raise awareness about the importance of maintaining our water supply and wastewater treatment infrastructure so that future generations will benefit from clean drinking water and a healthier environment.”
Students from more than 60 schools participated in this year’s Water Resource Art and Poetry Contest. All participants were honored as Water Ambassadors. In addition, from the more than 750 submissions, a group of judges selected 35 winners to be this year’s Water Champions.
Strickland presented the 35 Water Champions with certificates of recognition during the ceremony, and each student who participated in the contest also received a certificate recognizing their contribution.
The DEP’s Water Resources Art and Poetry program helps raise awareness about the importance of clean, high-quality drinking water, and what it takes to maintain New York City’s water supply and wastewater treatment systems. The ceremony recognized the student’s creative work expression of four cen- tral themes:
– Water-A Precious Resource: To highlight the importance of the quality of our tap and harbor water.
– The New York City Water Supply System: To look at the history of the city drinking water system.
– The New York City Wastewater Treatment System: To examine how the City treats more than 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater every day.
– Water Stewardship: What Can I do to Help to Conserve Water? To bring attention to the value of water and ways to conserve, and the NYC Green Infrastructure Plan as a way to manage stormwater for cleaner NYC harbor water.
Among this year’s water champions for art and poetry were the following local students:
– Farhana Laskar of P.S. 148 in East Elmhurst (grades 2-3 art);
– Oreen Ben Moshe of P.S. 78 in Long Island City (grades 4-5 art);
– Fardeen Hassan of P.S. 141 in Astoria (grades 6-7 poetry);
– Andrea Pesantes of Most Precious Blood School in Astoria/Long Island City (grades 8-9 poetry);
– Laura Williams of St. Agnes Academic High School in College Point and Chris Panican of John Bowne High School in Flushing (grades 10- 12 art); and
– Angela Begonja and Serena Schauer of St. Agnes Academic High School in College Point and Deepak Sharma of John Bowne High School in Flushing (grades 10-12 poetry).
