Pinon Hills girls named finalists in green competition

Three enterprising sixth-graders at Pinon Hills Elementary School, Leanna Temple, Alexis Von Schottenstein and Ariah Barth, have been named Nevada's state finalist team in the national Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge.

The competition encouraged middle school students, including sixth-graders, across the country to team up and go green by creating and implementing environmental change in their local communities.

The three students from Pinon Hills, along with their gifted and talented teacher Deborah Probert, did just that. They formed Team Environmental Nutrition Mission and for months studied the eating habits and waste practices of a third-grade class.

"We found that the average lunch has about 821 calories, with about 30 percent fat," said Leanna.

"A lot of kids only eat their cookies and chips and throw away the good stuff," said Ariah.

They also discovered that the third-graders were buying additional snacks to eat with their lunches.

"We gave them papers to fill out that told us how much they were having for lunch," Alexis said. "We sent fliers home to their parents saying how important it is to eat healthy."

The team also contacted the school district's food services department and lobbied to get nutritional information, including fat content, printed on the school's lunch menus.

"They've been lobbying very heavily," said Probert. "The main thrust of the competition is to have students do real-life research with real-life applications."

Literally digging into their younger peer's waste practices, with disposal gloves on their hands, team members were able to figure out how much recyclable material, such as food packaging, was being thrown away after lunch, despite the presence of recycling bins in the school. The team calculated that their school throws away more than 100 pounds of recyclable material a week.

"We felt that people weren't recycling enough," said Alexis. "We felt like it needed to change."

Again, fliers were sent home to parents about recycling practices, urging the use of recyclable materials in cold lunches and/or reusable containers. The students also lobbied at the district level to replace styrofoam lunch trays with trays made from paper composite.

"We didn't know how effective the fliers were," said Leanna.

But a survey administered to the same third-grade class, three months after the project, found that 55 percent of the students were packing healthier lunches, and 60 percent of the students were recycling more.

"Even kids our age can make a difference in the community," said Ariah.

Team Environmental Nutrition Mission is one of 22 state finalist teams, from which two national winning teams and one grand prize-winning team will be chosen and announced on May 18.

More than 2,000 students participated in the competition. Other state finalist projects covered topics such as e-waste recycling, ecosystem restoration and water conservation. A panel of environmental experts and science educators reviewed and selected the top projects.

As winners, the Pinon Hills students will each receive an eco-friendly prize pack, which includes a recycled messenger bag, a solar charger, a recycled USB drive, a recycled journal, a reusable water bottle and other sustainable supplies.

Probert will receive a free one-year membership to the National Science Teachers Association and a one-year subscription to Discovery Education Science, a digital resource library designed to deepen understanding of science.

The two national winning teams will earn savings bonds, teacher education resources and "Discovery Experience" trips. The grand prize-winning team will receive a comprehensive prize package, which includes an appearance on Planet Green, Discovery's 24-hour eco-lifestyle network, and a Discovery Adventure Trip, accompanied by a Discovery TV personality.

The competition was organized by the Siemens Foundation, Discovery Communications and the National Science Teachers Association.