Two different students in Lake Washington School District (LWSD) are asking for your vote in online national competitions this week.
Hilary Polis, a senior at Redmond High School (RHS), submitted an essay on behalf of Redmond’s student environmental group to the “America’s Greenest School” contest and is one of 10 finalists out of more than 2,000 entries in this contest to win a hybrid school bus.
Zoe Brants, a sixth grader at Wilder Elementary in Woodinville, is one of 10 finalists in the grades four through six category in the Google Doodle contest, as the Region 10 winner. Both national competitions are open to online votes to choose the winner and both students are asking for your vote.
Polis is a member of Go Green (Greater Redmond Environmental Education Network), a student club that does recycling, carbon emissions audits, bus ride campaigns and other educational programs. Polis’ essays describe all the programs this group has been doing at RHS, which have resulted in significant energy savings, more carpooling, increased recycling and composting of food waste. Among the programs are the 2,000-Pound Challenge, which challenges teachers to save 2,000 pounds of carbon emissions each school year. The students do energy audits of the classroom and help teachers with ideas for reducing their carbon footprint.
The grand prize for this contest is a hybrid school bus worth $200,000 as well as a $5,000 scholarship and $3,000 cash for the school. The winner will be chosen through online voting May 11-17, at www.americasgreenestschool.com. Individuals can vote once each day during the voting period. America’s Greenest School Contest is sponsored by IC Bus.
Brants entered Google’s contest, which invites K-12 students to work with the Google homepage logo to come up with new designs. The theme this year is “What I Wish for the World.” Brants chose her own environmental theme, “Let’s Heal the World.” Her doodle shows the earth with a thermometer, adhesive bandage and ice bag. She wrote, “What I wish for the world is that we could all put aside our differences and come together to heal the earth. I wish we could all unite as residents of the plant to help end global warming, eliminate pollution and strive for earth friendly energy sources.”
The national winner receives a $15,000 college scholarship, a trip to the Google New York office, a laptop computer and a t-shirt printed with their doodle. The winner’s school will receive a $25,000 grant toward a computer lab. The Google Contest voting takes place May 11-18 at http://www.google.com/doodle4google/vote.html. Brants is the Region 10 entrant for the grades four through six category.
