Schiller Students Take on Trash

Transcript

SCHOOL BELL ON SPEAKER, AND PRINCIPAL: Good morning everybody, could we all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag.

POLLARD: Schiller Classical Academy has a beautiful ring to it. It sounds like a fancy prep school. But there's ugliness in our neighborhood. From our library, we see a burned-out building. The only bit of greenery outside our windows is a grassy strip where people park cars. And litter is everywhere.

OWENS: Looking down storm drains is one way to see where the litter ends up. It's part of environmental awareness lessons we're taking.

(OUTDOORS)
VALLIANOS and students: Yeah, there's a lot of stuff in there, what do you see? You can bring your GPS tomorrow maybe. I can bring it tomorrow certainly. We can mark them. Looks like there's a bunch of oil in there. From the fire trucks maybe. There's a plate, a bag, cigarettes.

OWENS: We're just typical teens wondering if we can make a difference. Can we help make the city cleaner? I don't know.

(IN CLASSROOM)
VALLIANOS: We have our hills and our mountains. And we have our valleys.

POLLARD: That's Kostoula Vallianos from Earth Force. We call her Miss K. Her organization works with young people to improve the environment and communities. She visits our class and we build a model of a watershed in less than 30 minutes. It's cool how she uses kitchen materials in the model. She sprinkles table salt to show what road salt can do to our environment.

VALLIANOS: Phalonda said that the rain, when it would hit this mountain it would roll down this way. And when it would hit this mountain, it would roll down that way. Is that what happened? Very good.

OWENS: We talk for weeks with Miss K. and wrap up with a fun project outside.

WEISS: When we open this up, we're going to put it so that it fits right around this manhole cover.
BOY: Ooh, can I spray paint now?
WEISS: Just hold on.

POLLARD: This is our teacher, Mr. Steve Weiss. We spray paint the words 'Dump No Waste, Drains to River' over storm drains.

SPRAY SOUNDS
GIRL: That is so weak. Alright, baby, mine's better than all y'alls.

POLLARD: Being outside is better than being in class. We're not just hearing about cleanups, we're making a difference in our community. But sometimes people really don't care.

TWO STUDENTS' CONVERSATION (WITH JORDAN):
STUDENT 1: He said that he doesn't care about our environment. STUDENT 2: No I didn't. Why you always lying?
STUDENT 1: Yes you did.
STUDENT 2: I said that it's gonna be dirty.
STUDENT 2: Anyway.
STUDENT 1: Anyway.
JORDAN: So, what you feel like this isn't important or what?
STUDENT 2: No. It's not going to be important to me.
STUDENT 1: This is a place where you live, and you're living in litter. JORDAN: How do you feel about that? Doesn't that make you kind of depressed?
STUDENT 2: No. I'm not getting harmed.
OWENS: We talk to neighbors about pollution. It's kinda weird.

STUDENT: We're from Schiller Classical Academy.
WOMAN: What grade are you guys in?
STUDENT: Seventh.
WOMAN: A lot of people around here fix cars and stuff. Tell them don't dump their stuff from their cars in the sewer, too. That's a very good thing to do guys. Very good.
MAN: That's a good thing to do.

POLLARD: I wonder if the storm drain project will make a difference. We head to the library to talk about it with Jennifer Jordan from The Allegheny Front.

ROCKEY: In our time right now, people don't think about that kind of stuff. They don't think about what's gonna happen when they do something. They just do it.

RHINEHART: To tell you the truth, I'm not gonna be racist or nothing, but black people really don't care. I'm sorry but I'm serious about this. People don't care about that.
JORDAN: Why do you say black people?
RHINEHART: Because Manchester and Northview, you go in other neighborhoods like Brighton Heights, Manchester, Northview, they got stuff on the ground. Brighton Heights, they're clean up there.

OWENS: We started talking about litter and now it's a race thing? I guess it comes down to the community you live in.

POLLARD: They took the garbage cans down in my neighborhood, 'cause people was blowing them up.

OWENS: Did y'all hear about the thing on the news by the river? Some people was trying to fish and there was all these dead baby ducks by the river 'cause there's something in the water that's killing 'em, killing the fish and stuff. And I was thinking about this project when I seen that on the news.

POLLARD: I think if we put our mind to it, we could really like, uh, make our community a better place. If we get some help, and get a lot of people involved, I think it would change our neighborhood a lot.
JORDAN: How so? What kinds of things would make a difference?
POLLARD: Like on Earth day, they had people going around picking up trash and cutting grass and stuff. But people would just cut grass and leave the grass there. You gotta clean it up, put it in bags.
JJ: How about anybody else. What other ways could you make a difference in the community?
POLLARD: Talk to people about it. Tell what litter can cause and what could happen.

OWENS: For the Allegheny Front, I'm Tanazia Owens.
POLLARD: I'm Phalonda Pollard.
NEWTON: I'm Lain Newton.

THE TEMPTATIONS: YOU MAKE YOUR OWN HEAVEN AND HELL RIGHT HERE ON EARTH: Life is a giant invisible scale with two sides good and bad'

POLLARD: The other students involved were Megan Rockey and Channell Rhinehart, and Mr. Weiss' seventh grade science class from Schiller Classical Academy.

MUSIC BACK UP AND OUT