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rewards young heroes in Hong Kong
Disney News
Press Release
Jiminy Cricket Environmentality Challenge Award ceremony rewards young
heroes in Hong Kong
Program inspires students to make a little bit of difference
HONG KONG - Over 250 primary students were formally acknowledged today
as "Environmentality Heroes" in recognition of their hard
work and extraordinary achievements during the Jiminy Cricket's Environmentality
Challenge 2004/05.
Jiminy Cricket's Environmentality Challenge is a partnership program
held in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Department and
Hong Kong Disneyland.
The program provides teachers with an opportunity to lead their students
from a mere awareness of environmental concerns to an understanding
of local issues and finally to take responsible actions.
The program consists of two parts: the "Environmentality Pledge"
and the "Class Project Competition". Students who took part
in the pledge were required to discuss environmental challenges in their
class and make a commitment to protect the environment. Those taking
part in the competition were asked to identify a "real-world"
environmental challenge and implement an action plan to improve the
environment.
This year, a record 51,000 students from all over Hong Kong took part
in the Environmentality Pledge. There were 98 class projects submitted
involving 2,661 students.
The young heroes preformed extremely well during the program, presenting
their environmental projects in a lively and creative way. Amongst the
various outstanding prize winning projects, one learnt about organic
fertilization and planting methods by planting flowers. Flowers were
then sold to raise money for charity. Another participant explored ways
to promote restroom cleanliness in the community while one other prize
winner took a different approach and promoted the importance of environmental
protection through performing arts.
The Grand Prize winner of the Upper Class category, the SKH Wing Chun
Primary School, explored how schools can better utilize their resources.
By using the "Four R Principle" of reduce, re-use, recycle
and replace, students carried out a series of waste reduction campaigns
at their school. A journal was published to track different projects
they created as well as to set a framework for further promotion in
the local community.
The Grand Prize winner of the Lower Class category, Tai Po Methodist
School, chose recycling as their major environmental concern with a
project entitled "Wishes for Recycling Bins."
Students set out to educate Tai Po residents on how to separate different
types of household waste and to place them in the appropriate bins at
the recycling outlets. They also studied the current recycling situation
in Hong Kong particularly the lack of landfill space and made suggestions
on how waste management could be improved.
During the course of the campaign, students found that the main problem
was the lack of recycling bins in housing estates, prompting them to
write to the relevant government departments asking for more bins.
Attending today's Award Ceremony were the Director of Environmental
Protection, Robert Law JP, and Group Managing Director of Hong Kong
Disneyland, Don Robinson.
"In Hong Kong Disneyland we believe respect for the environment
is an important part of everything we do and we look forward to partnering
with the Environmental Protection Department in creating a better environment
for Hong Kong in the years ahead," Robinson said.
"It is encouraging to see the active participation of 50,000 students
in this year's program; the students have advanced a big step forward
by reaching out to the community and promoting waste separation messages,"
Law JP said.
Each of the 10 outstanding classes was awarded a cash prize of HK$4,000,
a Jiminy Cricket Environmentality Challenge class plaque and other gifts.
Each Grand Prize winner from the Lower and Upper Class categories will
also have the opportunity to visit the Hong Kong Disneyland site in
a specially arranged boat trip. They will also be invited to participate
in a special "Heroes Award Ceremony" to be held in Hong Kong
Disneyland in 2006.
Named after a beloved Disney character, Jiminy Cricket is the "official"
conscience of Pinocchio. Jiminy would always sit on Pinocchio's shoulders
to mirror his conscience and steer him back to the right path.
In the same way, during the program Jiminy was there to remind students
that they should take time to think about of the environment in whatever
they do, and to keep in mind his simple motto: "Every little bit
makes a big difference!
