by Warren V. Truitt, President, SARA
On Monday, May 12 th , representatives from Save the American River Association
(SARA), the American River Natural History Association (ARNHA), and the
Sacramento Tree Foundation attended a ceremony at Sacramento’s Phoebe
Hearst Elementary School to honor teacher, Sylvia Rodriguez and her 5 th Grade
Class.
Ms. Rodriguez and her 28 students created an environmental project, and filmed it. The film was formally entered in the 2008 Disney Environmentality Challenge.
Deservedly, the project won the Grand Prize, and a trip for Ms. Rodriguez and her students, to Disneyland – beating out 45 other entries.
The project, focused on the planting of native grasses, was performed and completed, most appropriately, at the Effie Yeaw Nature Center (EYNC). Susan
Maxwell of the Sacramento Tree Foundation, and Marilee Flannery, Director of
EYNC, both in attendance at the award ceremony, provided excellent expertise and support to the students during the project.
Warren Truitt, President of SARA, with the intention to encourage more projects that bring students to the Parkway, presented Ms. Rodriguez with a check to help offset personal expenses associated with environmental activities. In addition, SARA presented 28 copies of ARNHA’s publication, The Outdoor World
of the Sacramento Region to Ms. Rodriguez for use by future classes as they study and contribute to a better environment.
Additional members of SARA in attendance: Betsy Weiland, Volunteer
Coordinator, Board Member Ken Press, who actually attended Phoebe Hearst,
Guy Galante and Maxine & Dave Clark from the SARA Advisory Council.
A wonderful surprise, following the SARA presentation, was that Ms.
Rodriguez, was also acknowledged as Co-Teacher of the Year by the Sacramento
City Unified School District.