ODESSA, Texas — The friendly competition between some ECISD schools is back in full swing. Keep Odessa Beautiful Campus Cleanup Rivalry is a way for students to keep their campus and the environment clean in a fun way.
"It's a friendly competition and do something good in our community," says Keep Odessa Beautiful Executive Director, Claudia Ortega.
A competition that started back in 2017 between Odessa High and Permian High. "That school competition between two schools for sports came to create that eco friendly habit in their campuses is amazing ," she says.
Now that rivalry has expanded to 10 schools, all competing to see who can keep their campus litter free and recycle the most items.
"We’ve seen that change, we've seen it throughout the years and we’re very happy that that's happening and it's expanding into the community, not just in the schools," says Ortega.
This six-week challenge teaches students how to keep the environment clean and learn how to recycle their plastic water bottles and soda cans correctly.
"It’s really neat to see those students do what they’re doing. Because a lot of people don’t realize how much waste we produce. So by doing this the kids have learned to have that in the back of their minds. 'Hey, this will not have to go into the landfill, we can recycle it' and they have done a wonderful job doing that," says Ortega.
Once the six week are up, the winning schools receive a cash incentive of $250 for their school and they also get to see the massive changes they've made to a cleaner environment. "To hear them be excited, that enthusiasm and energy and to hear that they're doing it because they want to have a better environment is amazing," she says.
Keep Odessa Beautiful will be having a Spring Clean-up Kick Off Event and Fair this Saturday at 814 W 42nd Street from 9am-12pm. There will be free giveaways, music and food.
