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Posted on May 21, 2025 | Blog,News

Louisiana Schools Love the Boot!

Every year in April, hundreds of organizations and thousands of volunteers across Louisiana participate in Keep Louisiana Beautiful’s Love the Boot Week, a 9-day effort to clean up and beautify our 64 parishes. This year, 183 K-12 schools participated, helping to teach the next generation of Louisiana citizens the importance of caring for our environment and taking pride in our communities. From 2024, the number of participating schools increased by 154%, demonstrating our young people’s passion for keeping Louisiana clean and beautiful. This blog post spotlights some of our young environmental stewards’ efforts.

 

A.M. Barbe High School’s National Honor Society

Located in Lake Charles, A.M. Barbe High School’s National Honor Society organized a beach cleanup. Along a 1.5-mile stretch, 45 student volunteers picked up discarded disposable bottles, cans, and snack wrappers. In total, they picked up 30 30-gallon bags of trash. Way to go!  

 

Dutchtown Primary School

Dutchtown Primary School in Geismar organized both a campus-wide cleanup and a beautification event. While some volunteers picked up litter on the school campus, others refurbished three school gardens and planted a new garden at the school entrance. Students and faculty creatively upcycled old tires, using them as planters. 

 

At Champ Cooper Elementary School in Ponchatoula, 50 students worked with Keep Hammond Beautiful to clean their entire campus.  Before the cleanup, Gina Anthon of Keep Hammond Beautiful explained to the students the importance of eradicating litter and keeping the state clean. We love to see collaboration with local KLB Community Affiliates!

 

Pierre Part Elementary, a 2024 Love the Boot Award winner, had 120 volunteers dedicate 1,200 hours to picking up 180 bags of litter and 400 lbs of large items. They also prepared 750 tree seedlings for future coastal restoration.  The growing tree seedlings will be planted next year.

 

Scotlandville Pre-Engineering Magnet Academy

Scotlandville Pre-Engineering Magnet Academy, a 2025 Love the Boot Award Winner, launched a vibrant, multi-faceted initiative that brought together students, staff, community members, and industry professionals to celebrate environmental responsibility through education, service, and creative expression. Their projects included:

  • A School/Community Clean-Up and Bike Ride Kick-Off Event, where volunteers and students removed over 60 bags of litter.
  • Creating a mini school orchard with over 95 trees and pollinator-friendly plants.
  • Painting and repurposing tires for flower beds.
  • An ongoing recycling drive called Eco-Warrior Waste Wednesday
  • The Consider Litter project, a NOAA Sea Grant initiative aimed at educating students on students about the litter they leave on the school grounds, the impacts of pollution, and how to take action based on their findings following a cleanup effort.

 

Thank you to all of the schools that participated in Love the Boot Week! Students can stay engaged over the summer with KLB’s free programs and resources:


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