De Laak from Wamel the West Maas en Waal Children's City Council
On November 16, the sixth Children’s City Council meeting for the municipality West Maas en Waal took West Maas en Waal . This year’s theme was “A green West Maas en Waal—now that’s class!” Students from five schools presented their plans and then voted for the winning idea.
Great interest
More than 100 fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, brothers, sisters, council members, and other interested parties were present in the Council Chamber. From the public gallery, they witnessed an exciting meeting. Along with some 600 viewers at home, they saw De Laak from Wamel with “Trash disposal can be fun.”
Throwing away trash becomes fun
The students at De Laak want to do something about the litter in areas where many young people gather. By sprucing up trash cans in those areas with fun graffiti designs, they’re hoping for the “Holle Bolle Gijs” effect. Young people are more likely to throw their trash in a trash can that looks fun.
They don’t come up with the graffiti designs themselves. Every elementary school in West Maas en Waal asked to hold a design contest at the school and then submit two designs. Graffiti artist Morris will customize the trash cans. The trash cans are provided by the municipality West Maas en Waal.
Exciting meeting with a €5,000 reward
This year, five elementary schools signed up for the Children’s City Council: De Leeuwenkuil (Beneden-Leeuwen), De Wijzer (Beneden-Leeuwen), De Mariaschool (Boven-Leeuwen), De Oversteek (Dreumel), and De Laak (Wamel).
168 children from the 8th-grade classes came up with a project based on this year’s theme, “A green West Maas en Waal—now that’s class!” Over the past few weeks, they continued to develop this project. During the Children’s City Council meeting, a delegation from each class presented their projects. The young council members needed three rounds of voting to reach a decision.
The chair of the municipal council, Mayor Vincent van Neerbos, presented the winning school with a check for €5,000. The project will be carried out this school year.