Davis 10-year-old helps pass recycling plan, wins nationwide contest

FRUIT HEIGHTS -- Ten-year-old Alexandria Cooley knows what it takes to make a difference in her community.

As part of a voluntary academic award project, the Burton Elementary fifth grader played a major role in helping the city of Fruit Heights get a green waste initiative passed.

"I was just happy to help the environment," she said.

Part of Cooley's project required she do 10 hours of service in addition to interviewing sources, researching, and writing a report. An opportunity presented itself when her mother, Janet, saw a notice in the community newsletter that the green waste recycling program in Fruit Heights had fallen short of the responses needed to pass.

"She (Alexandria) had heard us talking about how it was too bad they didn't have enough people to pass this," Janet Cooley said. "We called the city and explained that my daughter wanted to take it on and try and get responses from residents that had not responded, and they said, 'Great! We'd love to have her help!'âÜ"

Throughout her summer vacation, Cooley pounded the pavement visiting over 500 houses to explain the proposed green waste program, going well beyond her requirements for the academic award project.

"After she got her 10 hours we said, 'You did your work for school. Is that where you want to end it, or do you want to see if you can get enough responses?'ââ"

Alexandria kept a log, and 56.5 hours and hundreds of door to door visits later -- with help from mom and dad -- she was responsible for almost 400 responses, nearly 37 percent of all the positive responses, raising the total from 770 to 1,170.

Fruit Heights passed the proposal, delivered cans on Aug. 15 and started pick-up on Sept. 1.

Seeing the project beyond what was required of her was no easy task. Cooley toured the recycling facilities and gained an understanding of the process she would be explaining. She also sacrificed valuable summer vacation time going out -- sometimes up to six hours in a day -- to visit each individual residence that had not responded to the city's proposal.

The fifth grader braved downpours and triple digit temperatures to visit residents, some up to 10 times when they were out of town or unavailable. Most were welcoming and after listening to Cooley explain program costs and benefits, agreed to accept pick-up.

Some were not as cordial.

"One guy was really mad that we came by," she said. "He thought that weed seeds would live in the compost and if you put it over your yard the weeds would sprout. But we went to the compost plant and they said that weed seeds can't live in the compost 'cause the compost is too hot and the seeds die."

Alexandria and her mother didn't bother going back to let him know.

After her success, Alexandria's mother was online checking coupons when she came across a nationwide contest through Nestle to nominate children ages 13 and under who had made a difference in their communities. She filled out the form, submitted the 300-word essay and forgot about it -- until a notice arrived stating Alexandria had won the $1,000 grand prize.

"I didn't know anything about it until it came in the mail," the fifth grader said with a smile. "I was really surprised."

When she isn't changing the world, the 10-year-old keeps busy with ballet, piano, singing, and Girl Scouts. She still counts the green cans on the curb when riding in the car and says the experience has helped her understand that initiating change isn't easy, but can be done with hard work and support from loved ones.

"Sometimes you have to give a lot to the world to help it," she said. "I'm really thankful for my mom too because without her this project wouldn't even be going on."