2009 Art & Essay Contest
Created in 2003, the Species on the Edge ~ Art & Essay Contest is a great way to engage and excite New Jersey’s 5th graders into learning about our state’s over 70 endangered and threatened wildlife species. It is open to all fifth graders in public, private, or home schools, and encourages students to learn about local environmental issues; express their concerns for the world around them; think creatively about ways to improve it; and to consider how their actions impact the natural world.
Educators praise the contest for encompassing inter-disciplinary teaching using science, language arts, computer technology, art, and geography.
Check out the Teacher Testimonial link above.
By creating these works of art and the essays about New Jersey’s wildlife, the children work as wildlife biologists. They may not see the animal but they researched it – what it looks like, where it lives, and what are the threats to its future. Because of this contest, children have a better understanding of the wildlife and habitats of New Jersey and what we need to do to keep them in our future.
Since 2003, over 10,000 children from across the state have entered the Species on the Edge ~ Art & Essay Contest. These children, along with their artwork and essays, represent the diversity that is New Jersey. From the Highlands in the north to the Cape May peninsula in the south, to the urban corridor of the New York metropolitan area to the rolling hills and rural countryside in the west, these kids are shouting out loud…it is important to preserve and protect wildlife and their habitat, everywhere in New Jersey.
We hope you enjoy the artwork and heartfelt essays. Most importantly, we hope that you are as touched as we are by what these children have done and said and that it will move you to help Conserve Wildlife!
Click here to add your name to the Species on the Edge ~ Art and Essay Contest mailing list!