I am a Brocktonian and proud of it. Far too often, we hear about the not so good events that come out of Brockton and neglect the many positives that have come out of this city. We are known as the “city of champions” because Brockton was home to the world famous and undefeated heavyweight champion of the world, Rocky Marciano as well as the undisputed world middleweight champion and International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee, Marvin “the marvelous” Hagler. Additionally, The Brockton High School, the largest high school in New England, is home to the nationally renowned athletics department, whose football team boasts nine perfect or one loss seasons during the last twenty years and is the recipient of USA Today’s Top 25 list on four occasions. An impressive twenty-five former Brockton High School football players have gone on to play for the NFL.

In keeping with our winning ways, on November 16th, The Enterprise reported that Brockton’s own Arnone Elementary School has won the National Paper Retriever Recycling Creativity Challenge, a contest promoting recycling within public schools. More than fifty schools all over the country participated in this contest but it was the Arnone School who took the top prize of $5,500 by way of popular vote. Second and third graders submitted a rap video on behalf of their “Green Team” responding to the question, “how does recycling impact the environment?” But they did more than talk the talk, students here recycled 3.69 tons of paper, greater than 2,000 chip bags, more than 278 cookie wrappers and over 12,000 Capri Sun juice pouches. School officials and students helped to decide how the money will be used which will consist of purchasing a composting tumbler, a video camera and supplying recycling bins for every classroom. In addition, Paper Retriever will make a $500 donation to the Paper Retriever host location chosen by Arnone officials.

My eight year old son is a student here and was a member of the “Green Team” and I am proud to know that Brockton schools are emphasizing and promoting the importance of environmentally conscious initiatives. Good things do come out of Brockton and other marginalized cities across America. To create positive changes within these communities we need to focus our energy and resources on educating our young minds because it our children who will lead this country taking us to new heights in the coming decades. Arnone Elementary school is doing their part and I sincerely thank the Brockton Public School administration for striving to create lasting changes within our schools and in our communities. Copy and paste this link into your browser to view the winning video: http://www.paperretriever.com/.