Bagstreet Boys earn $10,000 prize in Eco Challenge

A group of eighth-graders from SCAPA at Bluegrass, The Bagstreet Boys, have won a $10,000 prize in the Land/Water middle school division of the 2018-19 Lexus Eco Challenge. Jayden Young, Nora Mack, Violet Ferguson, Marianne Gebb, Shayda Alsalihi, Sofia Wu, and Jamie Cook will go on to compete this spring against other Land/Water and Air/Climate winners in the Final Challenge of this national contest, which encourages students to develop and implement environmental programs that benefit their communities. (SCAPA also has a team in the Air/Climate division, where results are pending.) 

When the Bagstreet Boys heard the stats on how many plastic bags end up in landfills, they zeroed in on their topic. Every minute, 1 million bags are used and then discarded after 15 minutes, according to Plastic Oceans. Then after seeing a video on how to make a reusable bag, the team found a means and a goal. Supported by teacher/adviser Ashlie Arkwright, the Bagstreet Boys collected some 1,325 discarded plastic bags, which they creatively turned into reusable bags to sell. More than $100 in proceeds went to Bluegrass Greensource, a local environmental organization. The SCAPA team also used interactive polls and surveys to engage and educate fellow students on the environmental impact of disposable plastic bags. Instagram and a website expanded their outreach, and subsequent surveys indicated a strong decrease in people using plastic bags. 

For more about the Lexus Eco Challenge, please contact SCAPA teacher Ashlie Arkwright.

Tickets on Sale NOW for SCAPA's "Mary Poppins" and "Dance SCAPA"!!

Click on the links below to access the ticket sale sites

"Mary Poppins"

"Dance SCAPA"

Congratulations to SCAPA Bluegrass on being a TreeRing Green Yearbook School! Since we sold 178 yearbooks, TreeRing's partner, Trees for the Future, will be planting that many trees in our school's name.