Educational Techniques.

Principals and teachers made the decisions concerning 1) participation, 2) requirements for the written contests and 3) instructional materials given to the students (See Classroom Educational Material). Their efforts were fully supported by Dr. Bill Stegall, Assistant Superintendent of Union County Public Schools, and his staff. Principals of the charter and private schools participating gave additional support. The educational activities as outlined in the Changing Attitudes and Behavior section were used to make students aware of the nature and magnitude of the problems of littering and polluting. These activities and the first draft of the news articles will be done in the classroom under the teacher's supervision. Educational professionals will judge the best news articles from each class and select a school winner. A Rotary member committee will select the overall county winner.

The Power Of Partnerships.

Since the inception of the "Yes! Yes! We Can Stop Littering" program, partnerships have been formed. This is the first project of its type in the Union County that involves so many community groups and leaders. In a strong spirit of cooperation, the following groups have come together to accomplish the goals of the program:

1. Union County Rotary Clubs - Marshville, Monroe Lunch, Monroe-Union Breakfast and Union West - provided seed money to start the project and steering committee members.
2. Union County public, charter and private elementary school administrators, teachers and third graders - provided resource support through the development of criteria for the written contest, "hands-on" activities in the classroom to teach awareness and are the major target group for the program.
3. High School Interact Club students and advisors - provided the second target group participating in the program and resource support.
4. Local small businesses and major corporations located in Union County - provided monetary contributions for seed money to launch the program and promotional items in the 2,200 litterbags distributed to third graders.
5. Elected officials both locally and at the state/federal levels - provided suggestions and encouragement.
6. Civic leaders representing other organizations outside the core group such as the director of the Union County Community Arts Council - provided opportunities for promotional tie-ins with other community events.
7. Private individuals who have believed in the [program enough to give monetary support. These persons prefer to remain anonymous.
8. The North Carolina Department of Transportation - provide support promotional materials which were included in the litterbags.
9. News media - provided publicity for the program and all events - (See Classroom Educational Material H).