Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The SCAPA team includes (back row) Chloe McIntosh, Morgan Cooper, Alice Mathews, (front row) Carrie Baldwin, China Green and Emma Centers. (Photo: Courtesy of SCAPA)

“As an eighth-grader, I wouldn’t even think to buy an aluminum water bottle,” said China Green of SCAPA Bluegrass. But because of a science project that has mushroomed into a schoolwide campaign, she and her friends are more aware of how they can help protect the environment by encouraging people to switch from disposable to reusable water bottles.

The seemingly simple concept scored big points in the first round of the Lexus Eco Challenge, and now SCAPA is among two dozen middle school teams in the national competition.

The Lexus Eco Challenge, created by Lexus, the luxury automaker, and Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, is designed to educate young people about the environment and to inspire them to create a better world. 

The contest encourages middle and high school students to develop and implement environmental programs that positively impact their communities.

“You start with making a small, manageable change yourself, and pretty soon it catches on,” said Ashlie Beals, the science coordinator at SCAPA, who is advising the girls.

As one of eight middle school winners in the air/climate division, the SCAPA group earned a $10,000 prize ($7,000 to be split among the six students and $3,000 for the school). Water and land are the other divisions, making for 24 total competitors in the national contest.

The Eco Challenge wraps up March 27; the results will be announced next month on Earth Day. Seven first-place winners will get $30,000 each, and one grand prize winner will receive $50,000. So SCAPA has a 1 in 3 chance of bringing home more cash.

“They created posters and commercials, quantified their results and wrote up an action plan for the first phase of the competition,” Beals explained. Now, “The goal is to go bigger with your idea and reach a wider audience. The kids’ idea was to design and sell some of these water bottles to community members.”

The girls – Carrie Baldwin, Emma Centers, Morgan Cooper, China Green, Alice Mathews and Chloe McIntosh – have been meeting after school to create a PowerPoint presentation and to hammer out specifics such as what color water bottles to order.

The team will net $1.50 for every $8 bottle sold, with the proceeds going to an environmental cause. The bottles also will have tags highlighting eco-friendly tips and noting the positive impact of using aluminum bottles, such as how much energy and landfill space will be saved.

Beals noted her students have worked hard on persuasive letters, scripts for phone calls, advertising strategies and a “Bottle Battle” Web site. “It really has a ripple effect through our school as the younger kids look up to the older ones,” she added.

“This is real problem-solving. We’re not doing this for a grade. We’re doing it because we want to,” Alice said.