THE ELEMENTARY school on Tajovského Street in Poprad has been named the best in Slovakia in 2010 for knowing and protecting the country’s forests. This was the eighth year of the national competition and it was enhanced with a benefit concert by Miro Šmajda held in Poprad Arena on September 30.
From April until the beginning of June, students at the 28 competing schools undertook various activities to learn more about forests in their areas and to take concrete steps to protect them. The winning school was chosen by a three-member jury, two from the organisations that masterminded the contest, Lesoochranárske zoskupenie VLK (Forest-Protecting Association Wolf) and Nadácia Zelená Nádej (Green Hope Foundation), along with one schoolteacher, according to Mária Hudáková of VLK.
The winning school undertook projects to protect the forests throughout the school year. Students regularly made trips to surrounding forests to get to know them better, to map the occurrence of certain species in the forest ecosystems, to visit and monitor natural reserves, and to report negative activities that they saw. They circulated petitions for preserving forests and helped to inform the general public about protection of forests at information stands in Poprad. The students also organised a fund-raising programme to enhance the Vlčia private natural reserve in Čergov.
Honourable mention awards went to the elementary schools in Bzenov and Vojčice and these students were also welcomed to the concert. The elementary school on Černyševského Street in Bratislava and the M. R. Štefánik elementary school in the town of Ivanka pri Dunaji also received awards.
