North Students Compete In Lexus Eco Challenge

Six students from Parkway North participated in and won $10,000 in the Lexus Eco Challenge Two: Air and Climate. These students are now preparing to compete in the final challenge which is due by Feb. 27.

“There are two challenges: the first one is about land and water, and the second is about air and climate change…For the second challenge, we focused on air and did indoor air testing. We made ozone strips out of iodine and put them around the school and tested for ozone,” said junior Deepa Shukla, member of Bettair, the North High team.

If a team wins one of the two challenges, then they are invited to participate in the final challenge. Since North’s team won the second challenge, they have decided to move on to the final challenge.The final challenge includes creation of an action plan and an action plan presentation. Prizes range from $15,000-$30,000.

“It’s time consuming, but once your projects done, you have to make a 15 slide powerpoint,” said senior Tobi Ola, who is part of the team

The Lexus Eco Challenge encourages students to be more conscious about environmental issues by asking schools to create teams of 5-10 high school students and have them create something that is eco friendly. These students must be dedicated to helping the environment through science.

“These are the most phenomenal students I’ve ever met, and they care about the planet. They care about people around them. I have never seen a group of kids more dedicated to a mission that would benefit so many people,” said science teacher Dr. Karen LaFever, Lexus Eco Challenge advisor.

Ola said, “It’s about awareness, but [the project also directly] helped in some areas.”

Since the challenges could relate to anything related to the environment, students on the team must know about a variety of different topics.

LaFever said, “[Students must] be prepared and have knowledge on a wide range of areas” to compete in the challenge. The students aren’t the only ones who have to be prepared and knowledgeable. The advisor also has to be ready for anything.

“It’s driven so if the students say we have to build something with hydro products, then I have to have materials and supplies ready for that…it’s a very unique kind of thing to sponsor because it’s different every day,” said LaFever.

The prize money will be shared among team members Ola, Shukla, senior Jeremy Chang, sophomore Clayton Wood, sophomore Thomas Cholak, and senior Yan Zhang.

by Theodore McKeon, staff writer