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GREENBURGH, N.Y. — It's a year of firsts in Greenburgh, as the first resolution to pass through the town board in 2013 was proposed by a group of 10-year-olds.
Students filed into the Greenburgh Town Board meeting Wednesday night to petition for four recycling bins to be placed in the Theodore D. Young Community Center. The students, from grades three through eight in Greenburgh Central 7 School District, are part of Xposure — an after-school program dedicated to teaching children from lower-income areas about science, technology, nutrition, finance and civic activities.
Xposure Executive Director Ray Thomas said the resolution, which was passed unanimously by the town board, is part of an Xposure business venture called Young Entrepreneurs Saving Our Planet (YESOP).
"They're going to inherit what we have. Right now, being a responsible adult is about helping them develop strategies to save the things happening to our planet," Thomas said.
Four students, whose heads barely poked over the podium, presented their findings to the town board, which included a short skit on video and a presentation about the need for recycling. R.J. Bailey student Corey Neil, 11, said the students were shocked to find out that there were only two available recycling bins at the community center and that they weren't being used properly.
Eleven-year-old Jameiya Valentine, also a Bailey student, hopes the presence of more recycling bins will encourage others to keep Greenburgh — and the planet — green.
"If our town starts to recycle, maybe other towns will, too," Valentine said.
YESOP's next step in its program is providing the community with environmentally-friendly household products like paper towels, toilet paper and cleaning products, Thomas said. The students plan to sell the recycled products back to the community at a more affordable price than most stores, while keeping a portion of the profits to invest for their future.
Comments (5)
I was at the town meeting and was disgusted at how much time is wasted..I was there for the Frank Nursery issue, not to see a bunch of kids. Waited more than 45 minutes for the discussion on selling the property and left because of the wasted time with a non issue as if we really care about putting a couple of $2. recycle bins in the community center. Just do it. Why waste every ones time for $10 worth of trash bins? If going by what my time is worth,those 45 minutes and associated travel time and gas I used to get to the meeting cost me a minimum of $50..multiply that by everyone there and $10. worth of trash bins cost us over $1,000!
Was this a delay attempt by the town board to anger residents there for the Frank Nursery land issue? Sure seems like it.
Isn't it unfortunate that everything YOU want to focus on isn't addressed immediately. Why can't they see your topic of interest should always be put first?
Yes! More stories like this please. They don't draw 10+ comments but truly show the positive acts of children in Greenburgh!
If this is taken as a positive aspect of the children of Greenburgh , perhaps you should see what other towns have going on in their schools. These kids at the town meeting, all cute and such, but could barely read off the screen. Such as our schools inability to provide a decent education for these children and enable them to be able to read at their grade level.
Fortunately, I'm not interested in what other schools/districts are doing. I pay taxes here, my children are educated here, they both can read well-they were doing so when coming out of ECP into Lee F. Jackson (pre-k to K, ages 4-5).
So, although the experience/view of some has been poor or we 'compare' poorly, I'm happy and proud to see stories of the public school children of Greenburgh.