Anna Paez, a seventh-grader at George Washington Middle School, saw the litter at Four Mile Run Park near her home and former elementary school and also saw an opportunity.

After being challenged by her teacher to start a community service project, she took it upon herself to email her Girl Scout troop and other residents to clean up the park in December, and Mayor Bill Euille and the City Council honored her Tuesday night for her grassroots effort.

“We collected a lot of trash,” she said. “We even picked up a shopping cart, a bike a fire extinguisher and a lot of bottles and cans.”

“Anna has taken it upon herself to do the right thing … by organizing a clean up of Four Mile Run Park, so in honor of that, the Council wanted to have you here to say ‘Thank you,'” Euille said.