THOMAS – Vivian Crossland, daughter of Wayne and Shaena Crossland of Thomas, was all smiles last Monday when she learned she was the first-place-winner in the Recycling Coalition of WV Inc. Coloring Contest for students in kindergarten through first-grade.

Vivian, who is in first grade and attends the Mountain Laurel Learning Center, received a $50 gift card and certificate from Tucker County Solid Waste Authority Executive Director Steven Moore during a presentation ceremony at the Center.
“Recently, the Recycling Coalition of WV sponsored a coloring contest,” Moore said. “They asked all of the kindergarten and first-grade students across the state to use their creativity to color a sheet and learn about recycling and composting.”
Moore said hundreds of contest entries were received from students across West Virginia, and said the winner attends Mountain Laurel Learning Center. The students were very happy to learn they had a winner amongst them and began clapping. He said there was a very special person in their midst.
“On behalf of the Recycling Coalition of WV, the West Virginia Solid Waste Management Board and the Tucker County Solid Waste Authority, I would like to present a $50 gift card and Certificate of Appreciation to Vivian Crossland,” Moore said. “We would also like your school to share in your success by giving them a gift card as well.”
Moore said everyone who submitted an entry for the coloring contest should be proud.
“This is quite an honor for me to get to make this presentation,” Moore said. “We are very happy to have a winner in Tucker County.”
“I am so excited,” Vivian said. “Thank you, so much.”
The contest required students to color items, then cut them out and paste them in the proper location indicating which items should be recycled, composed or disposed of in the trash. Vivian said she really likes to color and thought it was fun to color the Band-Aid.
“We recycle and compost at our house and at the Center,” Vivian said. “We put our banana peels and orange peels in the compost container.”
When she is not coloring, recycling or composing, Vivian said she enjoys sports like soccer and making music with bells and a recorder.
Vivian has two sisters, Kaylyn and Gillian. Her grandparents are Richard and Wanda Crossland of Thomas, Bill and Sandy Hinkle of Petersburg and Becky Masoka of Virginia.
Shannon McCann, one of the instructors at the Mountain Laurel Learning Center, said this is the second year the students have participated in the coloring contest.
“We received the information in the mail and the children participated in the contest,” McCann said. “The Mountain Laurel Learning Center has students age 3 to 12. We were very excited to find out we had a winner. Vivian, we are very proud of you.”
Diana Villamor, instructor at the Mountain Laurel Learning Center, said they would display Vivian’s winning entry so everyone at the Center would have the opportunity to see her handiwork.
In a release, the Recycling Coalition of WV Inc. said the Youth Contest is aimed at encouraging students to use their creativity and learn from recycling. The West Virginia Recycles campaign features the theme, ‘It All Comes Back to You.’ The slogan presents multiple messages: a recycled product or material can return to consumers as another new product; recycling comes back to consumers as an improved environment; and it is everyone’s responsibility to recycle.
The Recycling Coalition of WV Inc. is a non-profit environmental organization whose mission is to promote the effective and sustainable reduction, reuse and recycling of materials otherwise destined for disposal. The Recycling Coalition pursues these goals through the promotion of purchasing products made with recycled content material, by coordinating and facilitating activities relative to recycling and by fostering communications among organizations, government agencies and individuals through the sharing of ideas and resources.