By Luke Voogt
Hamlyn Heights nine-year-old Rhyder Zdybel was so excited about winning a National Water Week poster competition she started doing laps of the classroom.
“I was running around and around – I had to sit down in the corner just to settle down,” the Herne Hill Primary School student said.
“I couldn’t believe it – I was so happy. I just did it because it sounded like fun and I care about our world and the water.”
Rhyder won the grade 3-4 category in the Barwon Water competition with her pencil and tetxa poster showing two different futures flowing from a tap.
“It’s about how saving water affects our planet,” she explained.
“It shows how we want our world to be and how we don’t want it to be.”
One half of the poster shows an ocean polluted by litter and chemicals poured down drains.
The other shows a happier future, where people reuse water and conserve energy.
“On the good side, the water is clear and trees grow better,” the avid young artist said.
“Hopefully I might have made someone make a small change in the way that they use water.”
More than 100 students from 15 local schools created posters inspired by this year’s National Water Week theme: Reimagining our water future.
In addition to student prizes, Barwon Water randomly selected five participating schools – Torquay College and St Therese, South Geelong, Nazareth Catholic and Geelong East primary schools – for a $500 sustainability grant each.
“Congratulations to all participating students and schools for engaging in this very important topic,” Barwon Water managing director Tracey Slatter said
