They’re back: The Carter County Clean Teens have returned to action in Carter County Schools.
Sporting a theme borrowed from the popular movie series “Despicable Me,” students at the four county high schools are promoting recycling, conservation and litter clean-up by performing skits based on the movie.
The program, written and choreographed by the high school students, is designed to be seen by students in every school in Carter County, kindergarten through sixth grade.
The group has already performed in three Carter County schools. The performances will conclude this week with programs scheduled Friday at Happy Valley Middle School at 8:30 a.m.; Central Elementary at 10 a.m.; and Happy Valley Elementary at 1:15 p.m.
The program was started by Sheriff Chris Mathes and deputies of the Carter County Sheriff’s Department more than five years ago for litter awareness and prevention in an effort to educate children, teens and adults about litter and preventing.
“Our goal was to make Carter County litter-free,” said Mathes, who credited his school resource officers, specifically Deputies Tracy Phipps and Tonya Range, for taking an active role in the educational program.
“The group is made up of 13 high school boys and girls, freshmen through seniors, who are truly role models and will likely become community leaders themselves in the future,” Mathes said.