6th-grade Artists Bleach Out The Competition

March 13, 1990|By Casey Banas, Education writer.

Kathleen Gaynor`s 6th graders at Wheaton-Warrenville Middle School have won the grand prize in a national contest to recycle bleach bottles into works of art.

The work of her 28 youngsters was awarded $1,000, and the children are spending the money to buy books for the school library and to adopt animals at the Brookfield Zoo. ``We`re also planning to have a pizza party,`` Gaynor said.

Clorox Co. invited 3rd through 8th graders across the nation, in advertisements in magazines for educators, to take empty bleach bottles from home and use their skills to make useful objects. Among the objects the children created were a clown, a nun`s habit and a Chicago Bears lamp with a helmet.

Pictures of the bleach bottle artistry were submitted, and judging was done by looking at the photographs.

When the check arrived, the children decided first to spend $100 to buy books on sports, animals and seashells for the school library, Gaynor said.

Next, they adopted a green iguana, a snapping turtle, a peacock and a monkey at Brookfield Zoo for a combined $285. The money will be used to feed the animals for one year.

Gaynor said the youngsters have yet to determine how to spend the rest of the prize, but she added that a pizza party to celebrate winning the grand prize is a certainty.