By Donna Thornton/News Editor
Students at Carlisle Elementary School and Walnut Park Elementary earned pizza parties with their winning entries in Alabama Power’s contest centered around the 100th anniversary of the Gadsden Steam Plant.
Students in Debbie Simmons’ class – and representatives from Alabama Power — cheered Carlisle fourth-grader Aubrey Roe and her award-winning poster at a party on Feb. 20.
And on Feb. 21 at Walnut Park Elementary School, the fourth-grade classes of Vicki Stewart and Rosemary Nolen were treated to pizza and a screening of their video.
At each school, the award garnered a classroom grant for teachers.
Alabama Power Company provided fourth grade students in each of Etowah County’s schools with a retro-newspaper with information about the history of the Gadsden Steam Plant and the many projects Alabama Power is involved with in the community, such as, Message in a Bottle and the Renew our Rivers clean up each year.
Students were given a reporter’s notebook and urged to seek out more information on their own about the steam plant and about the changes electricity brought to the community in the last century.
At Walnut Park, students researched and presented information about the steam plant and electricity for their video entry.
At Carlisle, Aubrey Roe interviewed her grandmother and illustrated how her life changed before and after electricity.
Aubrey’s mother, brother and sister were on hand for the celebration, and students made a giant thank you card, complete with a poem of thanks to Alabama Power, signed by all the students and presented during the party.