Lexus Eco Challenge Finalists Conquer Conservation and Climate Issues to Win $10,000 and a Chance to Compete for Up to $30,000 More
TORRANCE, Calif., Dec. 11, 2013 /3BL Media/ – Trading cell phones for calculators, and fashion trends for lab coats, 32 middle and high school teams were selected as finalists for the Lexus Eco Challenge – claiming a $10,000 prize to be shared among the team, teacher and school. The winners will now compete in the Final Challenge for a chance to win one of two $30,000 grand prizes and eight $15,000 first-place awards. 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. Lexus will award a total of $500,000 in grants and scholarships throughout this year’s program.
Lexus awarded 16 teams for the “Land and Water” challenge and 16 more for “Air and Climate” challenge. Winning submissions included:
- Team 696, of La Crescenta, California, built and launched a weather balloon to collect data to speed regrowth in a local wilderness area.
- The Trash Terminators 2.0, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, partnered with a composting facility to set up a composting initiative, successfully diverting more than 80% of their school's trash by recycling and composting.
- The Green Team, of Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, constructed a bioreactor to research algae as a renewable energy source.
- Team Solar Plug Solution, from Salt Lake City, Utah, implemented a solar outlet in their school’s outdoor classroom to help conserve energy and excite the students about solar energy.
“Through the Lexus Eco Challenge teens continue to prove they can change the world, starting with their community,” said Jeff Bracken, Lexus group vice president and general manager. “In the Final Challenge of this competition we task the teams to impact the world at large. It’s exciting to see teens put their passion behind a plan.”
For each of the challenges, teams were required to 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. The finalist teams that best addressed environmental challenges associated with land/water and air/climate are:
| Land and Water Finalists | |||
| High Schools | |||
| Region | School Name | Team Name | School City, State, Zip |
| Eastern | Arlington High School | Mission: Mitigation | LaGrangeville, NY 12540 |
| Pinelands Regional High School | Pinelands Eco Scienteers | Tuckerton, NJ 08087 | |
| Southern | Hoover High School | Team Cahaba | Hoover, AL 35244 |
| Coppell High School | IB Coppell | Coppell, TX 75019 | |
| Central | Parkway North High School | Waste Busters | St. Louis, MO 63146 |
| Bartlett High School | Greengineers | Bartlett, IL 60103 | |
| St. Ursula Academy | St Ursula Arrows | Toledo, OH 43606 | |
| Western | Clark Magnet High School | Team 696 | La Crescenta, CA 91214 |
| Clark Magnet High School | EcoNarcs MkII | La Crescenta, CA 91214 | |
| Guajome Learning Centers - Guajome Schools | The Preservation Foundation | Vista, CA 92083 | |
| Middle Schools | |||
| Region | School Name | Team Name | School City, State, Zip |
| Eastern | New Egypt Middle School | Eco-Mythbusters | New Egypt, NJ 08533 |
| Southern | Whiteface Middle School | Arsenic Arresters | Whiteface ,TX 79379 |
| Evans Middle School | The Green Jobs Team | McKinney, TX 75070 | |
| Guy B Phillips Middle School | Trash Terminators | Chapel Hill, NC 27514 | |
| Central | Charles City Middle School | Muscles | Charles City, IA 50616 |
| Western | All Saints' Episcopal Day School | Eco Tigers | Phoenix, AZ 85012 |
| Air and Climate Finalists | |||
| High Schools | |||
| Region | School Name | Team Name | School City, State, Zip |
| Eastern | Daniel Boone High School | Go Clean, Go Green, Goooooo Algae! | Birdsboro ,PA 19508 |
| Grafton High School | Phineas & Ferns | Yorktown, VA 23692 | |
| Southern | Southside Christian School | Window Team | Simpsonville, SC 29681 |
| Newberry High School | NHS Renewables | Newberry, FL 32669 | |
| Central | Visitation Academy | Visitation Vivettes | St. Louis, MO 63017 |
| New Buffalo High School | Psionic Mushrooms | New Buffalo, MI 49117 | |
| Western | Clark Magnet High School | EcoNarcs Mk 2 | La Crescenta, CA 91214 |
| Clark Magnet High School | Enviros | La Crescenta, CA 91214 | |
| Middle Schools | |||
| Region | School Name | Team Name | School City, State, Zip |
| Eastern | Christa McAuliffe P.S. 28 | Tunnel Savers | Jersey City, NJ 07307 |
| Newtown Middle School | Mean Green Machines | Newtown, CT 06470 | |
| Southern | Lawton Chiles Middle Academy | Ghost Busters | Lakeland, FL 33801 |
| Leonard Evans Jr. Middle School | Passive Solar Sunday | McKinney, TX 75070 | |
| Central | Byron Center West Middle School | Electrical Team | Byron Center ,MI 49315 |
| Whitehall Middle School | iCompost@WMS | Whitehall, MI 49461 | |
| Western | Olympus Junior High School | Solar Plug Solution | Holladay ,UT 84117 |
| Olympus Junior High School | Windustry | Holladay, UT 84117 | |
To learn more about the winning teams, visit: http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3750833
For the final challenge, all 32 finalist teams will be asked to reach beyond the local community and inspire environmental action around the world through innovative ideas that are communicated to a wide audience. From the Final Challenge entries, eight first-place teams and two grand-prize-winning teams will be selected and announced in February 2014.
In addition to the ongoing contest, the Lexus Eco Challenge also includes educational materials created and distributed by Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, to encourage teachers to integrate creative lesson plans about the environment into their classrooms. For each challenge, the Web site (www.scholastic.com/lexus) has lesson plans and teacher instructions, including questions to help guide a discussion about the current challenge topic, facts about the topic, and guidelines for a specific classroom project.
The Lexus Eco Challenge is part of The Lexus Pursuit of Potential, a philanthropic initiative that generates up to $3 million in donations each year for organizations that help build, shape and improve children’s lives.
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Media Contacts:
| Nancy Hubbell (310) 468-7633 Nancy_hubbell@lexus.com www.facebook.com/lexus |
