Energy Academy teacher, Will Pratt, recently sent out an email to the staff of Mead High School, advising them to congratulate three Energy students who entered the ‘Caring for Our Watersheds’ competition in Colorado, during late Semester One.

‘Caring for Our Watersheds’ is a worldwide enterprise focused on “turning ideas into environmental solutions”, according to their website. Each year, a local and regional contest is held, which prompts students to ideate plausible and hypothetical devices and solutions to better the ecosystem.

Sydney Bell, Beau Klein, and Taylor Kamigaki were awarded an honorable mention for their project, which is titled “The Design and Fabrication of an Oil-Absorbent Stormwater Filtration System”. The project was submitted on the Fifth of January, and the group worked on the project for roughly one or two months.

According to Mr. Pratt, this was the first time in which the Energy Academy has entered the competition, and proudly walked with one of the four honorable mentions out of a total of 342 entries across the board.

The group designed a storm drain that absorbs oil to save aquatic animals and the water ecosystem.

“…we wrote and introduction on why [the storm drain] would help our ecosystems, and we designed a simple model of the storm drain, and we are still working on designing the real thing for later” says Bell in a private interview.

The group members, including Mr. Pratt, are all favorably pleased with the turn out of the contest.

Out of the 342 entries, there were ten finalists, three alternates, and four honorable mentions. Although third place amounts to the equivalent of an honorable mention, with all the entries that were submitted the group had easily placed in the top five percent in the contest.

Upcoming, on the Eleventh of May, the group is to prepare a presentation regarding their project for a formal banquet.

Be sure to congratulate these students for their accomplishment!