Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Announces Litter Hawk Youth Award Program Winners
(Latrobe Bulletin) Winners of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s Litter Hawk Youth Award program were recognized April 3 at a ceremony at the Pennsylvania State Capitol.
Winning students, their parents, guardians and teachers, and legislators with winning students in their district, were invited to attend a ceremony honoring the Litter Hawk Youth Award winners and participants. Over 60 people showed up to support and celebrate the winners and their efforts.
Shannon Reiter, president, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful; Phoebe Coles, chair, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful; Ramez Ziadeh, acting executive deputy secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and Christian Cassidy-Amstutz, strategic initiatives and grants manager, America250PA, provided remarks about the importance of educating youth about litter and anti-littering behaviors.
The program, funded by the state Department of Environmental Protection, provides a way for students in kindergarten through sixth grade to express their concerns about litter through art, words or video. Each participant completed a project specific to their grade level.
“Litter is gross. It pollutes streams, dirties our parks and highways, and it’s a problem that affects all of us – but it’s also something we can all do something about,” said Acting DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley. “The Litter Hawk program is great because it is engaging kids to be good stewards and encouraging their friends, families and neighbors to also be good stewards and help keep Pennsylvania beautiful and litter free.”
This year’s theme was “Join the Greatest American Cleanup! Show us how you can keep your community litter free for America’s 250th birthday” in support of the Greatest American Cleanup, Keep America Beautiful’s national three-year campaign to motivate, educate and celebrate communities to clean up and green up ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary July 4, 2026. Program judges were excited to see so many thoughtful submissions illustrating positive changes toward reducing the amount of trash found in our parks, school grounds and along our roadways. Over 500 students participated in this year’s program.
