For most middle-school-aged kids in Wareham, a typical summer day likely entails swimming, playing, and relaxation. However, for the students enrolled in the school district's summer CARE program, Monday was anything but typical.

After pulling two barrels and a tire out of a pond near Wareham Middle School a few weeks ago, several motivated youths spent most of Monday morning turning the would-be pond pollutants into trash cans adorned with colorful reminders of our impact on the environment.

Each can now bears several pictures of typical waste items and how long they normally take to decompose, reminding users of the time it takes for their trash to disappear when it doesn’t make its way into a trash can.

Many of the environmental portion of CARE (Community, Academic, Recreation, Enrichment) activities are geared toward not only cleaning up trash, but recycling it in creative ways once it has been picked up. In addition to the pond barrels becoming trash cans, a car tire that was also pulled out of the pond will be turned into a planter.

Perhaps most importantly, students learned the importance of taking care of the environment through the activity. Raven, a 12-year-old who was among the students who retrieved the barrels, said it best: “It’s important to keep the water clean because you will be drinking it.”

Along with trash cleanup at the pond, students also made several signs alerting people to the different kinds of plants and animals that live in the area. Tyler, who helped make the signs, said that it is important to have them “so that people know what lives [around the pond] and they know not to mess with them. They know to leave them alone.”

Each sign bears the name and a picture of the wildlife in question, allowing pond-goers the opportunity to learn about the area and to gain a greater appreciation for the plants and animals that live there.

Supervising Monday’s operation was Margo Connolly of the Buzzards Bay Coalition, which has partnered with the CARE program.

“It’s been a really great group this year," Connolly said as she watched the students paint the barrels. "This is something we all look forward to each week. It’s nice to see kids get excited about working outside.”

So far this summer, CARE participants have forgone swimming at the beach for wading into a pond to pick up trash, exchanged quiet days at home for hard-working days outside, and given up hours of their time in order to help the environment.

One of Monday’s workers, Jonathan, was wearing a shirt that said, “Future Leader.” Watching all of the CARE participants work, it’s hard not to see that future for each of them.