This is the time of the year when we are inundated with pitches from schools, community organizations, outdoors groups and the like to write about their bay projects, bay camps, and bay planting efforts.

The kids are planting grasses in local parks, testing water quality, getting up close and personal with the flow of tides, and otherwise having meaningful bay experiences.

So it shouldn't exactly be a shock that the Living Classrooms Foundation is teaming up with Honeywell to help 350 studetns from Dundalk and Logan Elementary Schools learn how to be more environmentally responsible.

 The press release reads: "They will investigate the water cycle, learn how to conserve water and reduce runoff, map their local watershed, spearhead a neighborhood trash pick up, transform their schoolyards into beautiful green spaces, and, under close supervision, stencil "Chesapeake Bay Drainage - Do Not Dump" on storm drains."

 It was that last part that got my attention. STENCILING? Who's the lucky kid that gets to stick his/her face close to the drain to paint those capital letters? I bet a lot of 5th-grade boys will be interested.

But seriously, this strikes me as an interesting activity to promote awareness. Thinking about throwing that apple core down the storm drain? Well, the sign tells you where it actually is going to go. Maybe you'll think twice. Seems to me if more places had that kind of labeling, we might have less examples of what we see in places like the Gwynns Falls and Herring Run: mounds of trash. it comes from somewhere, and it isn't from the tourists.