A primary school student has been awarded for her creative thinking after naming drumMUSTER’s new educational mascot.
Seven-year-old Paige Britton from Forbes North Public School in NSW won the competition with the character name “Dexter”.
Paige was presented with a cook book and her very own personalised Dexter the Drum apron. The program also donated money to the school’s library.
The new Dexter character will be launched as a learning tool across the country to help teach school aged children about recycling and sustainability.
Dexter the Drum
The mascot is part of a broader project to include the drumMUSTER stewardship program into the national curriculum.
drumMUSTER and ChemClear National Program Manager Lisa Nixon said Dexter will be a fun way of educating school kids about recycling and sustainability.
“Now that our mascot has a name, we can start to develop and introduce resource materials aligned to the curriculum for primary school students learning about the life cycle of products and the concept of reduce, reuse and recycle,” she said.
“It’s amazing to see what these kids are learning. These kids are quite possibly the next generation of Australian farmers.”
The competition comes after the program teamed up with the Forbes Urban Landcare Group to help raise funds for the school’s Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program.
The Landcare group receives funding from drumMUSTER for the inspection of eligible empty agvet chemical containers being returned for recycling by farmers and other agvet chemical users.
A portion of the funds raised through Landcare’s inspection services will be redirected to purchase a water tank for the Forbes North Primary School to help sustain their kitchen garden program.
The program teaches young children about sustainable gardens and eating healthy foods by running classes in the garden.
Forbes North Principal Steve McAlister said the school was one of the first in Australia to introduce the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program to their curriculum.
“The program is very much entrenched in the science curriculum and has a big emphasis on sustainability and being eco-friendly,” he said.
“This was one of the key reasons we thought the drumMUSTER partnership was a good idea: it underlines the key message of sustainability for the kids.”
Garden Program Teacher Sue-anne Nixon said the program has been running for the past eight years and has helmed the gardening lessons for students for the past year.
She said recycling is a vital aspect of the program’s promotion of sustainability.
“I think drumMUSTER will link in quiet well with the curriculum,” she said.
“We have a recycling program across the school that the kids are heavily involved in. They learn about sustainability through our compost system, worm farm, paper and cardboard recycling.”
Since 1999, drumMUSTER has collected more than 23 million drums nation-wide. That represents more than 28,000 tonnes of waste avoiding landfill.
Photos
1.Photo 1: Paige Britton with her winning drawing with (L-R) teacher Melissa Karaitiana, garden program coordinator Sue-anne Nixon, drumMUSTER’s Lisa Nixon, Paige’s great grandmother Beryl Mason, great grandfather Lary Mason, mum Amanda Mason and dad Adam Britton who are thrilled with her achievement.
2. Photo 2: drumMUSTER’s Lisa Nixon and Paige Britton.
3. Photo 3: Paige Britton
