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The Asbury Park Department of Public Works [DPW] enlisted the help of the city’s fourth graders for the design of this year’s recycling calendar and announced the winners at two assemblies held Tuesday, one at the Thurgood Marshall School and one at Bradley Elementary School.

The work of Thurgood Marshall School’s Lissette Contreras, 9, will grace the back cover and the design made by Bradley Elementary School’s Juliya Kubert, 10, will be featured on the front.

The calendar lists the dates for trash and recycling pickup throughout the city.

Yvonne Adams, the office manager and recycling coordinator for the DPW organized the contest. Students in the fourth grade at both schools were asked to draw a picture that answered the question, “How does recycling affect the environment?”

Adams, who has been a city employee for over 30 years. She came up with the idea from attending county recycling coordinator meetings, she said. It is the first time she has teamed up with the school district for the design. Previous calendars have featured photos taken of places in the city, she said.

Once the drawings were submitted, she narrowed the choices down and called upon the help of Mayor Myra Campbell to select the top two.

Campbell judged them based upon their overall creativity, the drawing’s relation to the theme of recycling and environmental awareness, and simplicity, she said. At the afternoon assembly, she stressed the importance of throwing trash in the proper receptacle.

“I am so happy to be here, because when I look at each and everyone of you, you are beautiful,” she said. “You don’t want to throw things on the ground, because you want to keep the city as beautiful as you are.”

“I wish I could give first place to everyone and everyone could be in the calendar,” Adams told students at the afternoon assembly held at the Bradley Elementary School, “I was very impressed and everyone did a great job.”

Each child that submitted a drawing was called up by name and given a certificate, a pencil and a $5 gift card to McDonald’s in Asbury Park.

The students at Bradley Elementary enjoyed participating in the contest, according to Juslaine Costanza, who teaches art at the school.

“We talked a little bit about recycling and what it meant to them, brainstormed it, and came up with ideas,” she said.

“When I’m on the beach I see a lot of garbage on the ground and cans and I try to pick them up and get other people to pick them up because it can kill the sea animals,” said Kubert.

Contreras entered a submission in the contest because she’s “really into art,” she said. “My mom always gives me lots of paper and I always draw every day.”  She came up with the idea for her drawing because she has learned plastic bottles harm animals, and the plastic that holds six-pack cans of soda together can kill birds, she said.

Both school principals are glad their students were able to have been a part of the project, too.

“It’s great to have everybody outside understand how much talent we have in the school district,” said Mark Gerbino, Thurgood Marshall School principal. “It’s great to have the kids seen in a different light, and for the kids to experience success is great.”

“A lot of good things are happening in Asbury Park,” said Kathy Baumgardner, principal of the Bradley Elementary School.

Calendars go to print within the next two weeks. City residents and local businesses can expect them in their mailboxes before the first of the year, according to Adams.

Click here to see the winning designs in a Sun Facebook photo album.

[Photo at top: Yvonne Adams shows Juliya Kubert what her design will look like on the front cover of the 2014 recycling calendar.]

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