Torrance, California – Who knew hormones and slimy green algae would help boost teens’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math, and win scholarship money?
Students across the nation are taking charge, learning about their environment, and making a positive impact on the world. Using their knowledge and studies, students, teachers, and schools are being rewarded with $500,000 in scholarships and grants through the Lexus Eco Challenge.
The Lexus Eco Challenge is an educational program and contest that inspires and empowers young people to learn about the environment and take action to improve it. High school and middle school teams nationwide define an environmental issue that is important to them, develop an action plan to address the issue, implement the plan, and report on the results.
Lexus and Scholastic reviewed the finalists’ innovative submissions and selected one middle school team and one high school team as the 2015-2016 Lexus Eco Challenge Grand Prize winners.
The Grand Prize-winning teams earn $30,000. Each winning team divides the grand prize: a $7,000 grant for the school, a $3,000 grant for the team’s teacher advisor, and $20,000 in scholarships for the students to share. Eight First Place-winning teams will be awarded $15,000 each.
This year’s Grand Prize winners are The Endocrime Fighters from Arlington High School in LaGrangeville, New York, and middle school team Aquaponics from Christa McAuliffe School in Jersey City, New Jersey.
To combat endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) – chemicals that prevent normal functioning of hormones and cause other negative effects – The Endocrime Fighters conducted extensive research and experiments. The team found that the disruptors can be found in everyday personal-care products such as sunscreen and lotion. They took action and produced their own homemade lotion and lip balm. In addition, the team lobbied for EDC-free soap for their school district, requesting it be replaced with a safer alternative. The team also educated their community and took political action by forging important relationships and communicating with people at county, state, and national levels to enact change.
Aquaponics researched how to prevent algae from reaching a bloom state in their local reservoirs in order to help reduce damage to the ecosystem. Instead of using harmful chemicals, the team explored natural methods and implemented a solution to limit algal bloom. Aquaponics tested various plants in an effort to find the best species to absorb the excess phosphorus and nitrogen that cause algal blooms. The team also designed, built, and installed the Maize Chinampa that was placed in their local reservoir to absorb nutrients. They subsequently took it to the next level in building a second and larger chinampa they called Algae Attack Chinampa. Aquaponics furthered their community outreach with presentations at six different schools, developing PSA’s and conducting interviews with their local television station.
The 2015-2016 Lexus Eco Challenge had more than 1,535 student participants. Thirty-two middle and high school teams were selected as finalists for the Lexus Eco Challenge, each claiming a $10,000 prize to be shared among the team, teacher, and school.
For the final challenge, all 32 finalist teams were tasked with reaching beyond their local community to inspire environmental action. The teams communicated their innovative ideas to a wide audience in the last round, broadening the reach of their work to people outside of their communities.
To learn more about the winning teams, visit: http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3750833
Throughout the past nine years, the Lexus Eco Challenge has awarded more than $5 million in scholarships. More than 30,000 middle and high school students have impacted their communities, learned about the environment, and improved their teamwork skills.
Lexus will open the tenth annual 2016-2017 Eco Challenge this fall with $500,000 in prize money for eligible students, teachers, and schools. Information on how students and teachers can participate in the Land and Water and/or Air and Climate challenges will be available this summer at www.scholastic.com/lexus.
Source: Lexus