Penn-Alexander students: Stop Littering

A class project explained

To the Editor: I am currently a student teacher at the Penn Alexander School and a graduate student at Penn. Recently, my third grade class has been studying Ben Franklin and his impact on Philadelphia. As a class, we are trying to emulate his community spirit by helping our community as we believe he would have done if he were alive today. To do this, our class formed a Junto. A Junto was a group of scholars that Ben Franklin met with once a week to discuss what they believed their community needed. When they met, they addressed the question, "Do you think of anything at present in which the Junto may be serviceable to mankind? To their country, to their friends or to themselves?" As a result, our Junto came up with the idea of addressing the issue of littering in University City. Our Junto then decided they wanted to write letters to the editor of a newspaper so they could encourage readers to help clean up their community. The Junto also conducted its own cleanup April 21. Enclosed are some of the outstanding letters that my students have written.

Jackie Pallas The author is a student teacher at the Penn Alexander School A desperate plea to clean up your trash

Dear Newspaper Editor: Could you make the littering stop? I love my community, but it seems like some people are littering, and it's making people sick. Also, it's ruining our gardens. That makes me feel sad.

Gabriela, 9

Dear Newspaper Editor: In our community, littering is hurting our flowers and ruining our garden. It takes away our fun time at Clark Park; there is a lot of litter. It hurts to see people littering. It makes people sick and hurts our community. And it makes our plants die. It's sad that our planet is so unhealthy. Can you help us by picking up the trash?

Ashli, 9

Dear Newspaper Editor: I live in Philadelphia and my opinion of my neighborhood is disgustingly dreadful. For example, I went to the playground a few days ago and there was trash everywhere. Later, I was walking by the University of Pennsylvania campus; a woman walked up to a corner and threw her Dunkin' Donuts bag on the ground when there was a trash can right there. And did you that it takes 500 years for a soda can to disintegrate? So, if we don't throw that kind of stuff away, our world will get ever dirtier.

Fiona, 9

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