PENNCREST tire cleanup an educational effort

By Jamie Musick

09/24/07 —

CENTERVILLE — Hundreds of muddy hands combined with determined high school students produced a massive effort to improve their environment.

More than 200 students from PENNCREST School District carefully moved and sorted 8,700 tires — that’s 167,000 pounds or 83.5 tons of tire material. And it wasn’t any simple task. The thousands of waste tires had to be removed from a ravine at the headwaters of historic Oil Creek — about 75 to 100 years worth of dumped tires, according to Chris Greco, a Saegertown High School biology teacher.

The motivated team of students, forming an assembly line, loaded tire after tire into five semi-trailers. The tires will then be recycled at Enviva Materials in Youngstown, Ohio, where students will get to see how these tires can be processed into tiny pieces of rubber to create numerous products, such as office supplies, mulch and floor mats.

For a second consecutive year, Jason Drake, a Maplewood High School biology teacher, was selected as a recipient of a more than $4,000 Milken Festival for Youth grant. However, total funding for the project included about $10,000 due to funds remaining from last year and donations, according to Drake.

Initiated by Drake and four Maplewood High School seniors in the spring of 2006, the project has escalated into an educational experience for even more students. Last year, 200 Maplewood and Saegertown high school students sorted and loaded an estimated 6,000 tires in four semi-trailers. This year, 275 high school students, including ones from Maplewood, Saegertown and Cambridge Springs, dug through the dirt and mud to scoop up the thousands of tires.

“We made a huge difference,” Drake said. “We took over half of the tires out of there. They (the students) just did a great job. They executed the plan with military precision.”

This year, Maplewood senior Andy Leveto stepped up to the plate, taking on the muddy challenge as his senior project. “It’s in our own community, so it’s good to help out,” he said. “We’re using what we learn in the classroom in the community. All of the tires are in a ravine, so it’s a challenge to get them out.”

Maplewood was one of 22 schools in the nation to receive a grant from the Milken Family Foundation to finance the project. Drake is also a 2003 recipient of the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award.

The purpose of the foundation is to discover and advance inventive and effective ways of helping people help themselves and those around them lead productive and satisfying lives. The foundation advances this mission primarily through its work in education and medical research.

“Everyone has a good attitude about it,” said Katie Harvison, a Maplewood sophomore. “It helps people out and the environment. It saves money because we get to recycle. The land it covers can then be used for something else other than waste.”

Students coordinated the effort with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Crawford County Waste Authority, Crawford County Conservation District, Allegheny College Creek Connections and several other local government agencies.

“I like being able to help the community,” said Katie Harvison, a Maplewood sophomore. “I’m big on service and it’s a good thing to do.”

Cambridge Springs senior Nick Walker didn’t mind digging through mud for a good cause.

“It’s fun,” he said. “It’s a lot of work. I’m soaked with sweat and I’m muddy. It’s good for the environment. I’d do it again.”



Jamie Musick can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at jmusick@meadvilletribune.com.



Did you know?

The Department of Environmental Protection estimates that 270 million to 300 million tires are piled in numerous locations across the United States. The DEP states that about 12.5 million waste tires are generated and recycled each year in Pennsylvania, and approximately 9.6 million waste tires remain in large stockpiles scattered throughout the state. In the last nine years, 26.8 million waste tires have been cleaned up within Pennsylvania, according to the DEP. This helps eliminate two major problems that result from tire piles, including tire fires and breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which are known to transmit West Nile Virus.

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