Plants Improving Air Quality

2018, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

In 2018, Alicia Poovong of Lester B. Pearson School in Calgary, Alberta placed sixth in the 2018 Caring for Our Watersheds contest with her project “Plants Improving Air Quality”.

Alicia is a passionate gardener and active member of her high school’s gardening club. While working with the club, Alicia and her teacher saw an opportunity to improve the air quality of their school by placing air purifying plants throughout various classrooms and learning spaces. By identifying concerns with high amounts of carbon emissions and urban byproducts that pollute our air and contaminate our drinking water sources, Alicia saw a strong connection between the quality of the air we breathe and the health of our Bow River Watershed.

Starting small-scale, Alicia had a positive impact on the air quality of her school by growing and distributing air filtering plants such as spider plants, ferns and ivy, to name a few, in and out of Lester B. Pearson.

Her and her teacher have also set up growing stations with UVA/UVB plant lights and solutions to local pest insects, to ensure the survival and health of these beneficial plants. Through partnerships with her school administration, Gardening Club, the Caring for Our Watersheds program, fundraising and community donations, she hopes to keep this viable, low-cost benefit to our neighbourhoods and watershed going for future students in the years to come.

Schoolyard Rain Garden and Tree Planting

2018, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

In 2018, Tina Tran of St. James School in Calgary, AB implemented her project “Rain Gardens – How Can They Impact Our Planet?”. Her goal for the project was to build a healthy rain garden in the schoolyard and educate students on the significant impacts of conserving water to our watershed. The benefits that Tina identified in researching and implementing her project included reducing the amount of carbon dioxide by allowing for more native vegetation respiration processes to occur, and conserving water by planting water-wise plants to improve soil water retention. Her and her class planted native tree and shrub species, and incorporated healthy mulch into their schoolyard gardens to inhibit weed growth and decrease the amount of water required in the rain gardens.

From the same class, Ben Trudeau spearheaded his tree planting project throughout the same garden and outdoor classroom space at his school, St. James.

He also distributed soil high in nutrients throughout these green spaces to allow for more effective growth and fill in some of the gaps throughout the gardens. Species of shrubs, birch and willow trees were planted, and the increased vegetation is supporting clean air and healthy habitats for local, native wildlife. The project has also improved the aesthetics and learning opportunities for students engaging in the outdoor classroom.

E.T.E (Energía Termodinamica en casa – Thermodynamic energy at home)

2018, Carmen de Areco, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Escuela de Educación Secundaria N° 1, Carmen de Areco. Students: Ana, Rocío

The focus of this project is on renewable energies. It bases its proposal on the first law of thermodynamics and analyzes the possibility of transforming temperature gradients into electrical energy.

A scale model was built that transforms the temperature difference of water circulating between two containers into electrical energy. Studying three know effects, Peltier, Seedbeck and Thomson, the prototype built, allowed to light a lamp by using a Peltier cell. Based on this, the project proposes to analyze the economic viability of taking this to a larger scale, using the temperature difference that normally occur in houses and buildings.

ETE student action

Rainwater Collection and Reuse

2018 Capitan Sarmiento, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Escuela de Educación Técnica n° 1 de Capitán Sarmiento. Students: Franco, Lautaro, Matías, Oriana

The project developed a rainwater collection and filtration system for the school roofs. The water recycling of this system is used in a first stage to irrigate a vertical garden built by students in an external schoolyard. This space will be used as a classroom open to the study of nature.

The students received mentoring and collaboration from Arq. Julieta Sacher y la Arq. Laura Valda.

vertical garden construction

*This project received the donation of some plants from “LAM garden”, “Pamela Picardi garden”, and participation and help from the students families.

S.A.P.O. (FROG)

2018 Capitan Sarmiento, Buenos Aires, Argentina water collecting module

Escuela de Educación Técnica n° 1 de Capitán Sarmiento y Escuela de Educación Técnica N° 1 de San Andrés de Giles.

This project proposed improved water management through rainwater recycling. The students created a small prop, in a small-scale module in which rainwater recollection from the school’s roof is used in a learning module to study fluid physics. The students created the module in a simple way so other schools can replicate the model.

Water Down the Drain

2018, Milliken, Colorado, USA

Brecken Sawyer, William Loecke, Regan Craig, Roosevelt High School

The team walked around Roosevelt High School and wondered what they could do to help the school’s daily water consumption. They noticed the current faucets throughout the school spit out over two gallons per minute. They researched options for decreasing the flow from the faucets and discovered a simple solution – Faucet Aerators.

Student Action CO

This solution was low cost and simple, yet reduced the flow of water out of each faucet in the school. In April, they installed the aerators on the 40 faucets throughout the high school. In addition, they presented the low-flow aerator concept to the middle school STEM classes and distributed the aerators to each student to use in their home. The team estimates they saved 6,600 gallons of water at their school and over 4000 gallon of water in homes. The total cost for this project was only $131.

Using Every Last Drop

2018, Greeley, Colorado, USA

Every Last Drop Student Action

Hanna Knoedler, Northridge High School

When students decide to use paint, they have a hard time determining the correct amount of paint needed which results in them taking too much. When there is paint left over at the end of class, that paint is being wasted by throwing it away or dumping it down the drain. As more paint is disposed down the drain it begins to clog the system and creates a problem for the
wastewater treatment plant. Using a measuring device, limits the specific amount of paint taken by students.

CO Every Last Drop Final Competition

In addition, collecting the unused paint by color can be used prior to getting paint from the main source. Hanna incorporated paint pumps into the art class. She also created a paint filter using and embroidery ring and a coffee filters for unused paint.

The entire budget for saving paint and keeping the sinks clear was only $182.

Recycling Signs

2018, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA Student Action Recycling Signs

Abby Howshar, Fernanda Sandri, Cole Glover, Fossil Ridge High School

Before beginning the project, Abby, Fernanda and Cole, looked around Fossil Ridge High School to determine the effectiveness of the recycling bins already in place. They quickly noticed that most of the bins were empty or filled with trash that cannot be recycled.

Recycling Signs Student Action CO

They decided the best course of action would be to place stickers on the bins that indicate what items should be recycled. The created and placed 150 poster signs that showed images of the items that should be placed into the recycle bins. In addition, they aught 100 elementary school children about the benefits and methods of recycling.

Recycling Broken Technology of Yesterday

2018, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

Reece Wilson, Miles Scharte, Fossil Ridge High School

Reece and Miles found that a common component in electronics is palladium. It is in the screens and circuitry because of its magnetic properties. Exposure, ingestion and inhalation can cause birth defects and damage the heart, liver, lungs, spleen and kidneys. They found it was rare to hear about electronic waste recycling in Fort Collins. As a result, e-waste many people were improperly disposing of their electronics. They decided education their community and sponsor a free collection of e-waste. They collected 1,137 pounds of e-waste! Their collection included 14 printers, 14 computers, 12 VCRs, 19 phones, and 15 monitors.

Lighting the Way to a Better “Watts”-ershed

2018, Greeley, Colorado, USA

Haley Wood, Union Colony Preparatory School

Haley realized that improperly disposing of compact fluorescent light bulbs can put harmful mercury into the environment. Haley’s project aimed to reduce the amount of mercury in the watershed while making her school more energy efficient and aware of the impact of CFLs.

Watt 1

Haley designed a recycling drive at her school at which faculty and students could bring their CFLs for recycling at a local Lowes. In addition, she purchased LED light bulbs for here school and hung posters and flyers explaining the impact of CFL and LED bulbs.

Overall, she collected 239 CFL and installed 78 LED bulbs around the school for only $317.00.