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Honored For Going Green

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By MICHELE SAGER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 5, 2008

NORTH TAMPA - NORTH TAMPA - Some King High students may be healthier, and the Earth may be a bit greener thanks to recent King graduate Ethan Sitver.

The 18-year-old recently was recognized as a Volunteer of the Year in the youth category by the United Way of Tampa Bay. The award is given to people who dedicate their time volunteering in the community.

Sitver participated in volunteer projects in and out of school.

He started the Green Club this past school year at King. The purpose of the club was to promote healthy eating, recycling and other ways to help the Earth. Sitver said he got the idea to start the club when he learned King had no recycling program.

"I wanted to create awareness among the students," Sitver said. "I wanted to get students in the habit of recycling their plastic bottles, cans and paper."

So Sitver placed cardboard boxes in classrooms, giving students a place to recycle items. Every two weeks, he and other club members emptied the boxes and took the items to recycling bins on the University of South Florida campus.

Sitver also brought his environmental efforts to the New Tampa Family YMCA, where he volunteered many hours. Maggie McCleland, volunteer coordinator for the New Tampa Family YMCA, said Sitver was a dedicated volunteer. McCleland nominated Sitver for the United Way award.

"Ethan led his club members in a day full of environmental education and crafts like creating planters and painting faces," she said in her nominating letter. "The kids loved it, and they never would have been able to experience it, if not for Ethan's leadership, and the initiative he took in starting his club and then extending its outreach past the walls of his school and into the community."

Through the YMCA, Sitver also helped raise money for scholarships and plan events for the Shriners Hospitals for Children - Tampa.

"Changing a child's life, by making them forget for a moment that they are in the hospital or foster care, is a priceless gift that volunteers have to give," McCleland wrote. "Ethan has given this gift and more by teaching children about conservationism. Those children can go on to effect positive change in their lives and the lives of others."

McCleland said Sitver was deserving of the award because of his altruistic spirit.

"His desire to positively impact lives and the environment not only serves as an example to all, but will have a long-lasting effect on all those he has been able to work with," she wrote.

Reporter Michele Sager can be reached at (813) 865-4843 or msager@tampatrib.com.

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