Students at H.S. Paul School got front-row seats to provincial politics on Thursday, April 25, when Minister of Environment and Climate Change Tracy Schmidt and former LRSD staffer and Seine River MLA Billie Cross showed up to announce a $46,000 grant for Take Pride Winnipeg to educate Manitobans on waste diversion and litter reduction. 

Tom Ethans, executive director of Take Pride Winnipeg, engaged the students from the podium in the school library with a participatory oath:

“Repeat after me. I promise…. to be a good citizen… to be proud of my community… to reduce… reuse… recycle… to clean my room—” 

Students giggled at this. Ethans later went on to explain that creating small habits of cleanliness and sustainability can compound into big results. 

Three students took to the podium to read a book about trees and to say, “By doing our part and picking up litter, we are making the community and world a happier, healthier, better place.” 

Another student strutted out, sporting a grin and what looked like a ghillie suit made from strips of reused plastic bags, clearly pleased their classmates found the suit quite hilarious. 

After the conference, students strapped on their shoes, grabbed garbage bags and headed outside to clean the playground—which, for the first time, they were a little dismayed to find nearly devoid of litter. 

Principal Jordan Falconer watched on as the students searched the grounds for trash. 

“This is exactly what Take Pride Winnipeg is all about—getting out and being good citizens and cleaning up our community,” Falconer said. “But it’s bigger than that. It’s about our entire planet.”

Falconer said engaging students early on sustainability is crucial.

“This is their future more than it is our future. They need to be aware and involved at a young age.”

MLA Billie Cross said she was pleased to be back in an LRSD school, building on her previous work as an Indigenous Education teacher.

“We talked about caring for Mother Earth, how to live in a sustainable way through how Indigenous people understood the impact of their footprints on the planet, what that meant and how to sustain it over time,” she said. “This hugely important.”

Take Pride Winnipeg operates across Manitoba and runs a variety of community cleanliness, beautification, and educational programs. For more information, visit www.takepride.mb.ca