By Oniska Blevins | The Selma Times-Journal

Selma Recycles is joining forces with Keep It Clean Selma, School of Discovery and the Selma City Council’s Children and Families Committee to host an Earth Day Celebration on April 22 at the School of Discovery in the Pickard Auditorium located at 400 Washington St.

The celebration is from 3-5 p.m. and is free to the public.

Selma Recycles project mentor Crystal Smith said she thought of the event to pay homage to the commitment made by Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson 48 years ago.

Earth Day was implemented by Nelson to shed light on the importance of taking care of the environment.

The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970, and now, almost 50 years later, it is still celebrated around the world.

Caleb Smith, an 11-year-old School of Discovery student, started Selma Recycles with his mother Crystal as a way to provide recycling for people in Selma.

This Earth Day celebration honors the ideals Nelson set fourth with a four-part celebration.

The four parts are a scavenger hunt, art walk, poetry contest and a community pledge wall.

“I just thought this would be something great for our city to do as we are looking at the importance of keeping Selma clean,” Smith said.

Smith believes keeping the city clean and helping the environment are tasks that require a group effort from citizens, local officials and law enforcement.

“This is something that we can do to bring everybody together, to be on one accord, to work together to make Selma better,” she said.

During the scavenger hunt, the group will be asked to find different trash items like water bottles or cans that may be on the ground throughout their designated areas.

Smith said the art walk is a way for students to display their Earth Day drawings to the community in the School of Discovery Pickard Auditorium. The deadline for students to submit art is April 16.

Selma Recycles is also accepting poetry entries, and the deadline to submit entries is April 16. Elementary school, middle school, high school and adult are the categories for the contest, and the winner from each category will present their piece at the event.

Everyone that attends will be asked to make a pledge to improve the environment, and all pledges will be placed on the wall inside of the Pickard Auditorium.

Smith said even though she spearheaded the event, she knows and values the amount of insight the other organizations have brought to the table.

After witnessing their efforts in keeping the area clean, she knew she had to partner with them.

“We can come together and be one minded with one goal and that’s to take care of our environment,” she said.

Although it has not been decided if the event will be an annual one or not, Smith said having events like this is good for the environment as well as the youth, and she would love to see it continue.