(Whitehouse, Texas) – Keep Texas Beautiful announced Higgins Elementary Green Girls and Trash Patrol as a winners of the 2010 Ruthe Jackson Youth Leadership Award in the Elementary Category on Tuesday, May 18. The Ruthe Jackson Youth Leadership Award is one of twelve categories in the Keep Texas Beautiful Youth & Educator Awards and recognizes outstanding efforts made by youth whose accomplishments are bringing about cleaner, more beautiful campuses, parks and communities, thus making Texas a better place to live. A $100 cash prize is presented to the first place winner.

Each year, Keep Texas Beautiful recognizes the efforts of young people, educators and educational institutions that promote beautification, waste reduction and litter prevention through action and environmental education. The Higgins Green Girls was formed four or five years ago by a group of young ladies who wanted to encourage the other students in Higgins to recycle. This past year they also began a program to collect drink pouches and send them in for reuse. The Higgins Trash Patrol was started by a group of 3rd grade young men a year and half ago. These young men had noticed litter on the school grounds and work to encourage all students to collect litter and to avoid littering in the first place.

Award winners will be recognized at KTB’s Youth & Educator Awards ceremony, which will take place Wednesday, June 23 at their 43rd Annual Conference in Austin. A full list of winners and award descriptions can be found at www.ktb.org.

Keep Texas Beautiful, a statewide grassroots environmental and community improvement nonprofit, strives to educate and engage Texans to take responsibility for improving their community environment. KTB and its more than 360 affiliates work with government, businesses, civic groups, and volunteers to ensure that every Texan has the opportunity to make Texas the cleanest, most beautiful state in the nation. For more information on programs and events, call 1-800-CLEAN-TX or visit www.ktb.org.