Ornament Contest

7th Recycled Ornament Contest Gets Underway

OXFORD – It's officially "Oxford Recycles Month", and the 7th annual

Ornaments by Hailey Fleury - upk, Lucas Forsythe - K, and Elizabeth Fuller - 4th
Some of the clever 2009 recycled holiday ornament entries were (the then) grade UPK Hailey Fleury's Santa; Snowman by Lucas Forsythe of Kindergarten; and the Dancer by 4th grader Elizabeth Fuller.

Recycled Holiday Ornament Contest will kick off this week at the Oxford Academy Primary School. Notices will go home in Friday Folders. This event was designed to coincide with the state's "NY Recycles" and the national "America Recycles Day" held every year on November 15th. While it may appear to be just a fun contest for the kids, the positive ecological message it's sending is clear to all. This contest has received support and recognition from local businesses, the Village of Oxford, the Chenango County DPW, and the NYS DEC in Albany.

Sponsored by the Oxford Holiday Committee, the contest specifies that the ornaments, no larger than 8" (requested but not always adhered to), be constructed of materials that would usually go in the garbage can, such as Styrofoam cups, straws, cardboard, old unwanted CDs, etc. The deadline for entries is November 22nd.

To give the kids from UPK through 4th grades, some ideas for environmentally friendly, recycled ornaments, a display window near the office in the Primary School will be set up. Aside from sample ornaments, there will be books on exhibit from the school's library. Most of these books detail the importance of the "3 R's"- Recycling, Reducing, and Reusing.

The new Primary School art teacher, Katie Thomas, said that she is "very excited about the contest!" She will be talking to her students about the ornament contest and will showing them examples from the "Recycled Ornaments" links online at the OxfordNY.com school web page. The feedback from other faculty members is that the contest is a positive creative activity that the students look forward to having at home with their families.

All participants who enter will get personalized Certificates of Recognition, pencils made from recycled currency and informative "NY Recycles" conservation booklets generously donated by the DEC. Ornaments will also be exhibited for the month of December in the window of '6 On The Square', the arts and entertainment venue located at 6 LaFayette Park.

Ornaments by Richard Hathaway - 4th, Andrea Dempsey - 3rd, and Morgan Rogers - 3rd grades.
4th grader Richard Hathaway made the two snowmen of Winter; a "Rainbow Star" spiral was made by Andrea Dempsey and a charming penguin was by Morgan Rogers, both 3rd graders (last year).

There will also be three place awards in each Primary School grade (18 total) who will receive gift certificates from Oxford merchants, sponsored by the Oxford Holiday Committee.

The Recycled Ornament Contest annually receives support and recognition from the NYS DEC's -Bureau of Waste Reduction & Recycling-, Debbie Jackson in Albany. The DEC has, in the past, donated recycled plastic mugs and NY Recycles calendars for place winners. Ms. Jackson confirmed that this contest was the FIRST EVER in New York State.

Tying in with the eco-contest, Oxford Village Mayor, the Honorable, Terry M. Stark, proclaimed November 2010 as Oxford Recycles Month! The proclamation is to be observed this month with "appropriate programs and activities." Nothing could be more appropriate than the Recycled Holiday Ornament Contest. The winning children will also have the proud distinction of having their names announced by the Honorable Mayor at the Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony in LaFayette Park, November 28th, at 5:00 PM.