Assemblywoman Catherine Baker and DPIE Recognize Dublin High School Students Promoting Composting

With the blizzard of activities occurring at the end of the academic school year, it might be easy to miss a small, yet very powerful event. On Friday, a few luminaries, students and members of the Dublin Partners in Education (DPIE) convened at the Teacher Lounge adjacent in the Dublin High School Student Union.

The purpose was to recognize students that had received high achievement in a Poster Contest under the theme of “Be Loyal to Your Soil – Compost.” This competition represented a collaboration that included DPIE, Stop Waste, Amador Valley Industries and 16th District Representative Catharine Baker. Their intent was to place a spotlight on the importance of composting and to allow the Dublin High students to present a visual representation of what this movement means to them. A rating system was devised to measure elements such as Marketability, Creativity and Overall Impact.

As the students filed into the lounge, they were also joined by City Council Member Don Biddle, DUSD Board President Amy Miller, Representative Baker, DPIE Executive Director Susan Campbell and other members of the DPIE board. One by one, each student was provided an opportunity to speak about their artistic inspiration:

Lindsey Lauffer: “Ever since I was little, I have had a passion for art and a passion for gardening. My art teacher gave me a few flyers for art contests coming up and as soon as I saw the Be Loyal to Your Soil contest I felt so inspired! My Grandfather and I love gardening together and our favorite thing to grow was sunflowers. He showed me how to compost and what to put in the compost to make it grow. My Grandfather taught me everything to know about gardening, including how to compost. The concept for my poster was based on the time my Grandpa and I spent together. I pictured his hands holding my favorite flower and the dirt sprinkling on the ground.  I also learned what to put into the compost so I included each item in the word itself. The amount of fun that I had making this poster reminded me of all the fun I had gardening.”

Dominique De Vera: “I wanted to join this contest because I have a huge passion for art and I deeply care about the environment. The environment is something that should not be taken for granted. In addition, it should have more attention by helping it and improving it. On the poster, I emphasized the phrase “Be Loyal” to signify the attention towards the environment. Loyalty at this case promotes a commitment, which is to start composting and continuing the process. After careful research to avoid drawing items that are not decomposable, the word “Compost” consists of items that are able to overall.”

Elizabeth Fu: “My poster concept is based on the importance that composting has on our cities – composting may seem to be just a simple process, but the many benefits of it can hugely improve our lives, such as improving the air we breathe and reducing the amount of pesticides and water needed to grow healthy plants. This is why I chose to have a silhouette of cities sprouting up from the ground. “

Audrey Shi: “Inspired by the butterfly theme on the promotional flyers my poster advocates compost in an indirect way. The butterfly in the middle has half a complete wing and half a skeletal one demonstrating the life it had. The flower sprouting out of the top of its head shows the life that grows out of the death of the butterfly. Composting is using previous organisms to help new ones grow like how the flower is growing out of the butterfly.”

Rachel Yoon: “My poster includes a healthy apple tree grown from compost with animals and kids eating yummy apples. Compost eliminates the need of plant fertilizers in soil and creates healthier and organic food that we eat every day. I decided to participate in this contest because art is my most favorite thing and I would like to join the earth-friendly event with my artwork.”

Alexandra Fangonil: “I chose to participate because I wanted to be able to tell people how beautiful nature is. Through my poster, I sowed this. I want to tell people that we should be loyal to our soil and respect it since it is the one that is making us live. We should learn how to save our natural resources and not destroy them. Nature has given us and provided us so much for us to survive. It is our time to give back. We should let it grow and develop to its full potential. Let us not litter and release pollution. Let us make our world beautiful once more.”

While not largely viewed as a competition, there were awards to be handed out. There were three honorable mentions distributed and the Grand Prize winner was awarded to Ms. Elizabeth Fu and her piece “Be Loyal to your Soil – Compost!”

OneDublin.org would like to thank DPIE, Stop Waste, Amador Valley Industries and Representative Catharine Baker for the invitation to this very special event. Ms. Baker implied that some of these artworks would ultimately end up in either her local office in San Ramon or in Sacramento. We were simply thrilled to acknowledge these talented Dublin High School students and to understand their artistic motivations.