LAWRENCE – Entering the Guilmette Elementary School on Thursday morning, one could feel the excitement and energy amongst the students and staff. Walls were adorned with posters welcoming the Celtics while students were wearing green.
The energy in the school generated from a recycling contest sponsored by the Celtics and JN Phillips. The auto glass company has promoted a greener Earth for years and teamed with the Celtics to bring the message to a younger generation.
For two weeks leading up to the recycling event Thursday morning, every classroom participated in a contest to see who could collect the most plastic cans and bottles. Vans would drive up to Guilmette with bags upon bags of items during this time! With the prize being tickets to a Celtics game, the students were eager to have their class win!
The contest saw amazing results with over 39,000 items being recycled! Ms. Fehr’s third grade class won the contest bringing in more than 5,000 items!
In addition to winning Celtics tickets, Ms. Fehr’s class was in a for a surprise Thursday morning when Celtics player Jeff Green was sitting in their classroom as they arrived for school. Students excitedly paused when they noticed the 6’9” forward was there.
“How are you all doing today,” asked Green. “I heard you all won the recycling contest with over 5,000 items and wanted to personally congratulate you! That’s an unbelievable number and I’m proud of you. Recycling is important and I hope that you continue to recycle even after we leave here today.”
Green also had an opportunity to tell the class about the importance of education and how walking across the stage as a graduate from Georgetown University was the highlight of his life.
Following his time with the winning class, Green along with Celtics Legend Walter McCarty, JN Phillips President Bob Rosenfield, Celtics mascot Lucky and volunteers from the Celtics and JN Phillips hosted a school wide assembly.
The 585 students were so excited to see their guests and screamed loudly to prove their point as each one was introduced! After all the greetings, a few Guilmette fourth graders presented the results from the recycling contest.
After hearing from Green, McCarty and Rosenfield, Lucky thought the students deserved an extra surprise – a dunk show! If one thought the students were loud before, they exploded when they heard Lucky would be dunking!
With the students chanting, “Lucky, Lucky,” the mascot didn’t disappoint with two electric dunks. Lucky culminated his show by bringing Guilmette’s principal Lori Butterfield to the court for assistance. As Lori stood by the trampoline holding the basketball above her head, the students cheered. Lucky raced down the court, jumped on the trampoline and whisked the basketball from Ms. Butterfield’s hands before jamming the ball in the basket! Students were jumping up and down unable to contain their excitement!
As the assembly came to a close, a student ambassador from each class was paired with a volunteer from either JN Phillips or the Celtics. The volunteer then went and read Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax in an effort to promote recycling and sustaining a green Earth.
“It is extremely important to raise awareness and educate the public about recycling and protecting the environment,” said Rosenfield.
Green added, “The most important message that was taught to the children today was by taking care of their environment they will protect their future and many futures to come.”