McAllen Memorial students collect thousands of bottles

McALLEN — What started as a class project has become a compulsion for some McAllen Memorial High School students.

About 68 students from Melissa Eddy’s three Advanced Placement biology classes collected more than 26,000 individual-serving-size plastic bottles over a 24-day period this school year for a class project on human consumption.

And even though the project is over, several students in Eddy’s seventh-period class said they still have the urge to pick up discarded bottles they see.

“We should continue doing this,” said Melanie Garcia, a 17-year-old junior.

The project evolved into a contest among the three classes and among the individual students. Eddy’s seventh-period class won, collecting more than 13,000 bottles.

The students said they collected bottles from fellow pupils throughout the school day and rummaged through garbage cans at school. They collected bottles at football games, at local gyms and even on the side of the road.

At first people gave them odd stares when asked for their bottles, but by the end of the project, the students said everyone from teachers and students to family members and people in the community were cooperating with them.

“Some bottles weren’t even finished and they were giving them to us,” said Mauricio Yzaguirre, a 17-year-old senior.

Alejandra Hernandez, a 17-year-old senior who collected the most bottles out of everyone — about 2,800 — said she placed a box with a sign at the H.E.B. where she works asking for bottles. She also went to flea markets to collect the plastic containers.

“Everybody was helping me,” Alejandra said.

Sarah Aguilar said her mother, a kindergarten teacher at Milam Elementary School, had a contest with her students to collect bottles to help Sarah and her classmates.

The class said they were surprised to see how many bottles were discarded in such a short period of time, given that they had just covered a small area of town already.

“I feel bad,” said Shannon Miller, a 16-year-old junior. “I can’t stop (recycling).”

Eddy said she came up with the idea after attending a conference for educators who teach Advanced Placement subjects. The program’s test for students seeking college credit in those subjects now requires students to have more hands-on experience in field work and knowledge of human involvement in the environment. Eddy originally asked each of her students to bring in about 50 bottles, but her students went above and beyond their assignment.

“I’m shocked,” she said. “I really did not expect this much participation.”

She originally was going to take the bottles to the city’s recycling plant, but an art teacher at the school has asked to use them in an installation she plans to create for a green festival scheduled next month, Eddy said.

The bottle collection isn’t the only environment-related project assigned for the students. The teens have also been giving out stickers to teachers to put on their light switches to remind them to turn off the lights when they leave their rooms. The students also will begin collecting plastic grocery bags during the next six-week grading period. Future projects include examining electricity and water usage.

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Jennifer L. Berghom covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4462.