Junior Eleanor Anderson was named the Keep Georgia Beautiful Student of the Year for the 2017 awards program. Eleanor is a member of the Macon-Bibb County Georgia Civic Awareness Program for Students (GCAPS) Youth Commission. GCAPS sponsored her participation in the Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful Commission, an affiliate of the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation. Eleanor was selected as Student of the Year based on her environmental projects, her leadership abilities, and letters of recommendation from the community.
Eleanor has a passion for environmental issues, namely recycling. During her recent trips to Germany for the Ambassadors in Sneakers program and to Japan for the 2017 Japan-American Grassroots Summit, she learned how different countries view environmental issues and how they make recycling a priority through education, laws, and easy access to a complex network of deposit bins. Eleanor promotes recycling on the Academy’s campus and around Macon. On campus, she works with members of the Eco-Team to ensure each classroom has a recycling bin and clears them twice per week. Additionally, she organizes clean-ups on campus and in downtown areas. Eleanor also participates in the annual Ocmulgee Alive! River Clean-up event.
At Mount de Sales, Eleanor holds leadership roles in the Key Club and Eco-Team and she is an active member of the Beta Club, Mercy in Action Club, and Mock Trial. She has devoted more than 400 hours to community service during her high school career, helping organizations such as Rebuilding Macon and Jay’s Hope. She also holds membership in the Milledgeville Chapter of the Watson-Brown Foundation junior board, a board that researches, funds, and supports historic preservation projects in the Milledgeville area.
In August, she was one of only 10 students across the nation selected to become a member of the Keep America Beautiful National Youth Advisory Council, which provides high school students an opportunity to participate in a service learning and leadership development program while serving as ambassadors in their respective communities. Her focus as a representative of Macon-Bibb County is litter prevention.