Ridgeway Elementary School students are making use of books and reference sources acquired as part of the $10,000 OceanFirst Foundation grant won by Library/Media Center Specialist Geri Szoke in September.  Most recently, fifth grade students used the materials to research New Jersey endangered animals to enter an essay contest sponsored by the Conserve Wildlife Foundation.

Students chose from one of 70 endangered animals in the state, researched how they became endangered and what could be done to help them, and then wrote an original essay. The students worked in the Media Center with Mrs. Szoke.  They also worked with art teacher, Mrs. Elaine Pesce, to create original artwork of the animal in its natural habitat to submit with the essay.

“Ridgeway School has had a county winner in this contest each year and hopefully we will have a winner this year also,” commented Szoke.