BROOKINGS – About 800 Mickelson Middle School students and staff were out in force throughout Brookings on Friday afternoon, participating in their annual Earth Day Clean-up event. (The official date for Earth Day is April 22, but that fell on Sunday this year.)
Above, Mickelson Middle School sixth-graders McKenzie Nielsen, left, and JulieAnn Freeman pick up litter in Pioneer Park.
The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, to demonstrate support for environmental protection. The event is now coordinated and observed globally in about 195 nations.
The MMS crews covered a variety of areas, including the campus of South Dakota State University, roadways and parks. Under staff supervision, sixth-graders (wearing protective rubber gloves) in Pioneer Park fanned out and in military fashion policed the area, collecting and bagging an assortment of trash.
