Keep Temple Beautiful and the city's housing and community development department recognized the first graduating class of the Little Sprouts program at Western Hills Elementary during the Temple City Council meeting.

Program lead Maggie Spellings and Belinda Garcia described the semester-long effort, saying the school collected 16.5 pounds of recycled materials, planted pollinators in the school's front area and helped develop seven student leaders to champion sustainability in the school community. The presenters credited Temple Independent School District as a partner.

A student, Lydia, read a short poem about the program during the recognition. City officials congratulated the participants; no council action or funding requests were recorded in the transcript.