kings043
Registered: February 2007
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The group partnering with the Nicodemus Wilderness Project was King's Christian Academy Sixth Grade Class.
The following dedicated Nicodemus Wilderness Project volunteers conducted this cleanup project in October 2005: Maddy, Levi, Ruth, P.J., Leah, Ashley, Kelly, Edgar, Kyle, Tim, Alyssa, Jane (Parent), and Mr. John Merry (Teacher).
The following essays were authored by the students and appear in alphabetical order (last names not shown).
Maddy
"On October 14 our class picked up trash around Lake Harriet. We had fun and found many funny things. We found things like shoes, gallons of water, cabbage, tennis balls and a whole lot more.
We didn't see any cool plants but we saw people walking by with dogs. There were many kinds of dogs that were really cute. Some of us got thistle seeds on us but I didn't. The only pretty flowers we saw were by the troll's house! The Troll is a little troll who has a house under a tree with a very pretty garden. Other than that , there were not any pretty flowers or little critters.
Going to Lake Harriet was really fun. It was good knowing that we were helping our community. About eight people said “thank you” out of the about eighty people that went by. One person asked us about our school, and what we were doing and why and then they said “Thank you for keeping God's kingdom clean.” It felt good helping clean up and I definitely won't forget the fun time we had that day."
Levi
"Hi, my name is Levi. My class and I cleaned up Lake Harriet. It is a pretty clean place, but when I went there it was filthy. I found a flashlight in the water. I mean come on a flashlight?
I couldn't get it out because the water was to deep.
We saw a lot of dogs, small ones, big ones, hairy ones, bald ones all sorts of dogs. We saw some dead birds and fish, it was sad. There were a lot of trees and bushes.
There were lots of people who said they were very thankful. If felt very good inside to help our community. I love our community. If I had a bunch of time I would volunteer to help people and animals."
Ruth
"Hi! My name is Ruth. My class did an ecology project at Lake Harriet. We split the class into boys and girls and walked around the lake. Each of us had a trash bag and rubber gloves, right away we started finding a lot of trash, some people even found shoes!
While we walked along about nine people said thank you for cleaning up the lake. It was really cool to see how much people care about their community. I loved it. I hope we can do it again.
Sometimes we would find really odd stuff like frosting for cake, pens, pencils and a bottle with pop still in it. We also found stuff that most people expect in the lake like fishing line, although some of that other stuff is really weird, the weirdest thing was a red cabbage (that I found)! It smelled really bad.
We finally met up with the boys by a place my friend called the Island. I had fun and I hope maybe we can do it again."
P.J.
"My class and I cleaned up around Lake Harriet. It is a pretty big lake with plants around it. It has a popular band shell where orchestras come from everywhere. I knew where everything was because that is the lake I live on.
When we started picking up trash we found a lot of small trash such as bottle caps, wrappers, and small bags. I found a sandal, four dead birds and one large dead fish. I didn't pick them up because I didn't have gloves.
A bunch of people were walking around the lake with their babies, dogs or both. When the dog would have to go poop we would throw it in our trash bags because it is mostly when you step in that stuff. Even though I didn't get a lot of trash, I'm glad I helped even though it wasn't very exciting. It was also boring because Lake Harriet is one of the cleanest lakes. I think it should be a law that people keep a trash bag with them at all times. I also wish people would follow the pick up your pets poop rule, I think that would make our world cleaner."
Leah
"On Friday, October 14, we went to Lake Harriet to clean up the trash around the lake.
I found a lot of strange trash around the lake, including a comb, a dog toy, tennis ball and a number from a marathon. There was also a lot of trash like, paper and candy wrappers. I think it was fun and I would like to do it again sometime.
While we were walking around a lot of people thanked us for cleaning up. It felt good to be helping the environment like that. I hope that the people who saw us will be motivated to clean up some themselves or at least to not throw their garbage on the ground. I think it is a great and easy way to help our environment.
It was also fun to see all the pretty leaves on the ground and in the trees. There were ducks on the lake and there were fish in the lake also. There were a lot of people walking dogs or just going for a stroll. It was really rewarding to take part of my day to help out the environment like that and I would gladly do it again."
Kelly
"Lake Harriet was a lot of fun. I enjoyed picking up trash. There was a lot of trash to pick up. There was a lot of trash, that if we had not of come there would be a lot more.
Many people said thanks to us, a couple dogs came up to me. We walked around and found a lot of trash in the water, we found shoes and balls. I felt good about helping nature and cleaning the environment. People should take care of nature is what I think. If people are going to be careless then they should be careless at their own house. It is no fair to nature at all.
Nature is very unique and is very important. Animals are fun to watch and feed. If we don't keep the habitats clean it will be so dirty that nothing will live in the lake. That is why it is very important to keep lakes clean and fresh. I would like to clean up some more lakes, if we don't who will? I liked cleaning the lake and if it is possible I would like to do it again."
Edgar
"My 6th grade class and I are from a small non-public school called King's Christian Academy, in south Minneapolis, Minnesota. We went to Lake Harriet, a local lake near our school. We did not think we would find much trash but after we were done our 6 grade teach Mr. Merry said, “I will reward the person who has the most litter.” We found a lot of trash at the end of the day. I found two unfinished beer cans and a few broken glass bottles.
There were also three dead fish on the shore near the lake, a dead crow and a pigeon. The animals we mostly saw were dogs, big, small, medium sizes. We volunteered to pick their droppings. I can't say it was fun picking other people's litter up, but the thanks I got from people built pride in me that I was doing something good for our community.
This is an annul event when our whole school goes outside to serve the community. We really like this day because we don't get homework or have classes that day and we mostly get “thank yous”. I really think the people who go would enjoy the place and not like it trashed."
Kyle
"On the 14th of October we went to Lake Harriet, it was not fun. On the way I found a dead fish, with my friends. We found it by the shore and we were thinking about throwing it away. Then we found some trash on the shore. We found some cigarette butts, old napkins, a sandal and an old ice cream cone. I was tired and we were not so happy because we were really hungry and thirsty. We felt we were losing our energy but we would still go and pick up trash and I like it a lot.
After we were done I had thought that we should keep the environment clean and keep the earth clean."
Tim
"My name is Tim and I attend KCA school. This year my 6 grade class servathon project was cleaning up around Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We found quite a bit of trash, but it was a lot of fun.
We saw and heard a lot of interesting things. We walked by the troll's house who had unfortunately moved away. About eighteen people thanked us for our work, WOW. We saw dog and I found three dead birds and two dead fish, gross. I found quite a bit of trash. I found candy wrappers, straws, Styrofoam, tarps, cup lids, boards, plastic cups, beer cans and a lot of other things that I can not remember. It sounds worse than it is , it was fun."
Alyssa
"Hi, my name is Alyssa. On October 14, my class and I went to Lake Harriet. In case you are wondering, Lake Harriet is a lake in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Anyway, we went there to clean up trash. You wouldn't believe how much we found, tarps, tennis balls, water bottles and even milk cartons. I wouldn't mind doing it again, as long as I had a fishing net to help get the junk that was out a little to far for us to reach.
While we were cleaning up the thrash, I started to notice how pretty the lake was. I saw flowers that looked like velvet and dandelions that looked like little pomp-pomp balls. I saw how happy some people looked while they walked down the path. I saw dogs and how it looked like they were having a good time, chasing sticks or balls in the water.
During the two hours we were there, we had about a dozen people say thank you, and about a million people smiled at us. We even had a person start helping us for a little bit.
My favorite part about this was the little troll house that's in a tree. It's kind of hard to find, so you have to look really hard at the bottom of all most every tree. If you find it you will see a note on the door (which is like four inches tall) saying that he has moved."
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