Kearns-Saint Ann student wins contest, names street sweeper

Friday, Jun. 13, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — Amou Akot, a first-grade student at Kearns-Saint Ann School, won the South Salt Lake City Public Works’ “Name the Street Sweeper” contest. She was rewarded with a certificate, a gift certificate to Toys “R” Us and the opportunity to ride in the sweeper she named Scrubby in the South Salt Lake City Fourth of July parade. 

Amou’s submission was selected from those proposed by students in the five schools that participated in the contest from the Granite School District. 

“We thought the name she chose was sweet and cute and it fit,” said Christy Wixom, Public Works secretary, as she thanked the first-grade class for all the names they submitted. “Unfortunately, there could only be one winner. We would like to thank Amou so much for that wonderful name. It fit because the sweeper has brushes on it and that’s what it does.”

When the workers go out to use the sweeper, “we will call it Scrubby,” said Corby Talbot, Public Works Storm Water Department supervisor. “We won’t ever change the name. This is the fifth year we have had this contest; the first machine we named was a great big excavator that was named the Claw. It’s still written on the piece of equipment today, and everybody still sees it and calls it by that name.” 

Anet Akot, Amou’s father, thanked the Public Works Department for their generosity and said the family was pleased with his daughter’s accomplishment. 

“We are so proud of her for doing so well in school because English is not our first language,” he said, adding that he and his wife immigrated to the United States from South Sudan 15 years ago. “But with her teachers and the school and us, we try to help her as much as we can. I am sure that what she did today, and how she won this contest, came from what she has learned in school. I really appreciate St. Ann School staff for being a part of our family and for helping us. We really appreciate her teacher and her classmates; they are wonderful.”

To come up with the name, Amou used logic in picking what she wanted the sweeper to be called. 

“I saw the machine cleaning the road and that’s how I named it,” she said. 

South Salt Lake City contacted the school to inform them that they offer a program about recycling, resources and about keeping the water clean and said “they also would like to come into the classroom to talk to the children about a contest to name a piece of machinery – the street sweeper,” said Carrie Justesen, Kearns-Saint Ann first-grade teacher. “They showed us a video and talked about how we all live downstream, and then they gave the children a demonstration of the sweeper and some papers for them to color. Each child submitted a name and then we were notified that Amou had won the contest.

“We were blessed to be chosen,” Justesen continued. “I am very proud of my students; we have a wonderful school and staff. It will be exciting for Amou to be in the parade.”