Four Moon Township Students Nationally Recognized For Their Recyclable Art

            Four students from Moon Township recently won national recognition for their sculptures made of recyclable materials, created last year in a Moon Parks and Recreation summer camp where members of the Moon Township Garden Club’s Youth Committee played a key role.

The National Garden Club announced that Quinn Briggs, 10; Mackenzie King, 13; Ethan Rivetti, 12; and Maura Teitz, 11, all of Moon, received certificates of appreciation from the National Garden Club for the children’s contributions to the Youth Recyclable Sculpture Contest. The awards were made in May at the NGC convention in St. Louis, Mo.

            The students each created a sculpture from materials to be recycled, reduced or reused at a summer camp in 2025 at Moon Park. The Garden Club’s Youth Committee brought materials to add to that of the Parks Department and contributed guidance as the kids conceived and created their sculptures.

            “Having the Moon Garden Club visit our summer camp was such a treat for the kids. They get so excited to have new people bring activities to camp for them. The sculpture contest was a perfect fit,” said Lisa Shaughnessy, youth program coordinator for the Moon Township Parks and Recreation department.

            “It was amazing to see the kids’ creativity come to life,” Shaughnessy said.

Bonnie Keen, chair of the Garden Club’s Youth Committee, said the state and national garden clubs’ Youth Contest was for children in grades four through eight. The sculptures had to consist of recyclable, reused and reduced materials in a project no more than 8 ½ by 11 inches, with the height in proportion to the width. Members of the Garden Club then entered photographs of the sculptures into the state Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania’s Youth Sculpture Contest.

            Nine local children at the camp were announced as winners for their work at the GCFP annual convention in March. The first-place winners of that contest were then entered into the National Garden Club contest, and four were given national awards for their creations:  Quinn Briggs, “Robot”; Mackenzie King, “The Lorax”; Ethan Rivetti, “Wind Chimes”; and Maura Teitz, “Penn State Basketball.”

            “I was amazed at their ingenuity,” Keen said of the campers who participated. “They really got into this sculpture contest. They really thought out what they were going to make and they only had a little over an hour to do this.”

            Keen said all the children in the camp at Moon Park, even those not at the contest grade levels, participated in making sculptures of recyclables, and all had fun.

            “I believe creative thinking is such an important skill to build in kids, as it can be applied to all school subjects and areas of interest,” said Shaunessy, who holds a master’s degree in education. “We are so grateful to the Moon Garden Club for bringing such a wonderful opportunity to our camp kids.”