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Dream Green!
What happens when you challenge a group of homeschool students to solve a significant environmental issue in our community?
You get a WOW! A project focused on Dunwoody Nature Center took first place at the Georgia Conservancy's 2008 Youth ENvironmental Symposium, held at Zoo Atlanta's Action Resource Center on Friday, February 29.
The Youth Environmental Symposium, now in its tenth year, is a statewide contest designed to promote environmental awareness among Georgia students in grades 6 through 12.
The Dunwoody-based team of Cory Feig-Sandoval (13), Molly Huntington (15), and Jonathan Knope (15) conducted an energy audit of Dunwoody Nature Center and then produced a short movie to describe what a new, energy-efficient green building in Dunwoody Park might be like. The team was one of ten finalists invited to presnt to an audience of 200 students, as well as nine judges from the environmental field. Each group of finalists presented a project addressing a local environmental issue, along with action plans they designed and implemented to address the issue.
Georgia Conservancy awards cash prizes to be used for science books for participating schools or to further the project that has been presented. Cory, Molly and Jonathan's first-place prize of $2,000 will go to Dunwoody Nature Center!
The team initially undertook the study of Dunwoody Nature Center as part of the FIRST-LEGO League Power Puzzle Challenge, an international robotics competition that included both a robotics and a research challenge. After studying the buildings in Dunwoody Park, the team presented their audit findings and their vision for a new building to the Dunwoody Nature Center Board of Directors' Facilities Task Force and to the DeKalb County Citizens Advisory Board to the Parks and Recreation Department.
The three students hope that their movie will help spark interest in an LEED-certified, home-size building in Dunwoody Park. This model green building would teach the community how to conserve energy and move toward renewable energy sources. The building would also reflect and support Dunwoody Nature Center's mission of environmental educaiton.
Check out their work! This video showcases the prize-winning project!
"Imagine A New Dunwoody Nature Center": http://video.google.com:80/videoplay?docid=-4787611689893359625&hl=en
If you have an environmental story to share, let us know!
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