St. Alphonsus student wins state award

St. Alphonsus fifth-grader Ashley Elenz won a state sponsored contest for designing a rain barrel that will be painted and donated to the school's Garden of Eatin and used as a water source.

The contest was sponsored by the Illinois Department of Transportation and each participating school could only submit two designs that would promote water recycling and saving the earth's resources.

Only 40 rain barrels were awarded throughout the state. The preparation of the rain barrel is now being worked on by Ashley and the St. Alphonsus Art Club. As soon as it is complete, the rain barrel will be presented to the school's Garden of Eatin to use as their environmental water source.