seymour high school students to clean up river in honor of earth day

published: April 21 2008 11:35 AM updated:: April 21 2008 11:29 AM

The Science Club of Seymour High School will work Tuesday, April 22, Earth Day, to clean up a section of the Pigeon River along the boundaries of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Clean-up activities should occur between 9:30 a.m. and 12 noon.

Janet King, Faculty, Seymour High School, board member Tennessee Clean Water Network and Renée Hoyos, Executive Director, TN Clean Water Network

The Seymour High School science teachers accompanying the students will be Charlie Householder, Melissa Mynatt, Mary Tankersley, Alexis Toomey, and Kristi McCord. 80 students will participate by cleaning up the river and river banks.

Park personnel will oversee the event and Becky Nichols, Park Biologist, will speak to the group. The students want both to learn about water quality and how to make a difference in keeping our water healthy.

TCWN is sponsoring the event as part of its education outreach.

Renée Victoria Hoyos, Executive Director of TCWN, and Janet King, TCWN board member and faculty member at Seymour High School, will accompany the group.

Directions; Go through Pigeon Forge into Gatlinburg and turn left onto Hwy. 321. Follow it out of town and past the City Hall complex and Food City and the Subway in the shopping center at the junction with Glades Road (on left). Head on out 32l further until you see the Open Hearth restaurant and then the BP station on the right. The stream area is behind those businesses. The stream is on the boundary of the park.

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User Comments

#1 jail bird commented, on April 22, 2008 at 3:01 p.m.:

There are folks in the county jail that should be doing this!

#2 teach the children commented, on April 22, 2008 at 3:24 p.m.:

Most of that trash and debris is probably from the kids to begin with...
If the parents would teach their kids not to litter, the problem wouldn't be so bad. But of course they learn from example.....

#3 I am not a liberal wacko commented, on April 22, 2008 at 4:57 p.m.:

I think earth day is the stupidest thing on the planet. It's just another chance for liberal environmentalists to strut around and and act all earthy, and brag about their stupid tofu and soy meals. Just like global warming, it's all a scam. There has been holes in the o-zone since the beginning of time and there is nothing we can do about it.

On a side note, I am against litter, and I think it's great that the kids get to do it because it teaches them not to litter. Once they have to pick it all up, I bet they will think twice before throwing that can out the car window.

I'm all about not littering and keeping things looking nice.

Earth day wise though, I hate it. I don't recycle. I never will. Trash is trash is trash. When I buy something, I don't want to buy something made of other peoples trash.

#4 i helped clean the river commented, on April 25, 2008 at 9:49 a.m.:

It makes me sad and discouraged that the comments posted were negative. These students had a great experience and a sense of community was built across a wide variety of kids. We were not just picking up trash, either. Mufflers, rusted grates, PVC pipes, bird baths, syringes, saw blades, and concrete blocks were the main part of the clean up. This obviously did not come from teenagers, it came from local businesses that do not take care of the land we live on.

It is okay for us teach these students how to be responsible for the Earth. Humans need to be conscientious of the land that we live on so that future generations can live as well as we do.

The group of students that went were well-behaved, learned about the local environment, happy to help, and most of all learned about the consequences of others not doing their part in this global society.

Thanks for everyone who supported us! It was a wild success!

#5 Howard Stern commented, on April 25, 2008 at 3:54 p.m.:

The first 3 posts are probably the source of the trash to begin with. We need to jail people who continue to dump their trash out so the prisoners who have to clean up after them can abuse them.

#6 seymour student commented, on April 25, 2008 at 4:59 p.m.:

well actually i helped clean the river also...and think the negativity is bullcrap. we worked really hard and got a whole bunch of trash. and no it wasn't us throwing it in there, its stupid buisnesses and lazy adults.

#7 Irish Guy commented, on April 27, 2008 at 2:02 p.m.:

I am a Seymour High student and I did go on this field trip. If any of you that respond negatively even knew why the garbage was there, you would think twice before commenting. Most of the garbage scattered along the river was from bears getting into the garbage cans and dragging it through the water and up the hillsides. The concrete and other metal pieces were from care-free adults that care not to help out but would rather help dirty the planet. It makes me sad to see that their children will look at them and see this as a way of living and the cycle of litter will continue. I can only hope there are more generations of human beings that will encourage and help keep this planet healthy and make it better for future generations.