My name is Maya, and I am a grade 6 student at Bardon State School. This year I started a project that will have an environmental impact as well as make students' learning environment more beautiful and visually stimulating. Recently the school Sustainability Captains ran a survey which showed half of the rubbish is thrown in the wrong bin. My project is to paint the school bins with the help of my peers, to encourage more and better rubbish disposal. The idea is that each grade will come up with one or more artistic designs to be replicated on the bins, to better identify in a creative way what each bin is supposed to be used for. By combining the arts with education on sustainability, I hope to improve rubbish disposal practices, while improving the aesthetics of our learning environment. This approach is supported by recent research, which found that "art on show in Paris during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Summit did change people's feelings about the environmental crisis (...) if it contained a hopeful message" (The Economic Times, 13 Jan 2023). This prize would be used to fund the art supplies needed to paint 12 bins and help make this dream into reality at our beautiful school!