By Morgan Roan
University of Georgia

President Bush honored some Georgia high school 4-H members April 22 in Washington, D.C., for projects that helped educate their community and preserve natural resources.

"By working hard to preserve our natural surroundings, you've made important contributions to your communities and to our nation," Bush said.

Coweta County 4-H officers Phillip Kaufman, Cody Disque, Rebecca Miolen, Cameron Brinton and Dane Beatenbough traveled to the White House to meet the president. They accepted the President's Environmental Youth Awards plaque on behalf of the other Coweta 4-H members.

"It was unbelievable to stand in front of the president and to know that our projects are making a difference and impact on our community," Disque said.

How it started

Disque and Beatenbough developed the Adopt-A-Stream project four years ago to clean and nurture area waterways. They attended Georgia Department of Natural Resources Adopt-A-Stream seminars. They even became certified in biological and chemical monitoring.

The 4-H'ers found many area streams in poor condition. They began recruiting others to help clean the polluted streams, writing newspaper articles, speaking to civic groups, distributing fliers.

"The teens' main goals of this project are to educate youth (and) the public and form a plan and take action in the community to help our environment," said Pat Miolen, a 4-H program assistant in Coweta County.

Local businesses contributed to the project. Yamaha provided the monitoring equipment, too, and helped pay for the Washington trip.

Broad effort

While some 4-H'ers were testing the waters, others taught water pollution classes to more than 1,500 fifth-graders in local schools.

The 4-H'ers organized and carried out four annual Rivers Alive cleanup efforts and two Great American Cleanups. Both projects involved more than 600 volunteers who donated more than 2,400 hours of community service. Their efforts restored the streams by removing beer cans, tires, furniture and other debris.

The Coweta 4-H Adopt-A-Stream teens attend county fairs, too, to raise awareness on pollution and storm-water runoff.

They're working now with county engineers in a project to raise people's awareness about the trash being washed through storm drains into local streams.

EPA program

Since 1971, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sponsored the President's Environmental Youth Awards Program.

Miolen nominated Coweta's 4-H'ers. She submitted the projects and resources they created to the EPA regional certificate program. The 10 regional winners get the chance to meet the president.

"It was such a great experience and honor to be invited to the White House," Brinton said. "The president encouraged everyone there to keep up their good work."

"You've cleaned parks, you've restored wetlands and you've organized conservation projects," Bush said. "As volunteers, you've given your time and talents in many different ways. And together you're helping to achieve a great national goal: to protect and pass along the great natural beauty of our country."

The 4-H'ers will compete in two other national programs, the Youth Symposium at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta and the Envirothon. In the latter, they compete in areas such as stream chemical tests, forestry, wildlife and soil testing.

"The teens find their work challenging. But they're very enthusiastic about these projects and are receiving great experience," Miolen said. "They especially enjoy the competitions."

(Morgan Roan is a student writer with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)