The 30th annual Caring for the Kenai environmental and disaster preparedness contest had a panel of eight judges select twelve Kenai Peninsula Borough high school students to compete for the top spot.
The final twelve will next make oral presentations in April to offer answers to the question, “What can I do, invent, create, or improve to better care for the environment on the Kenai Peninsula, or better prepare for a natural disaster?”
Sammy Crawford, national teacher of the year in 1988 and one of this year’s judges, discusses what she has seen from entries this year: “They’re so interesting! They’re so different and such a wide range of topics. Some of them are really well-developed and some not-so-much, but the best thing about this program is that they’ll have an opportunity to refine and as they prepare for their oral presentations in April, they will even refine them more. It’s so practical! It’s so real-life! You take something that’s just a nebulus idea and make it into something real that you can do, you can present, you can promote, and figure out ways to make our lives better. It’s really fun! It’s just so creative, these ideas and these kids. They came up with ways that can make caring for the Kenai even better.”
Caring for the Kenai has put over $250,000 into STEM education on the Kenai thanks to sponsors in the local energy sector. Oral presentations will be Thursday, April 16 at Kenai Central High School and the public is encouraged to attend.
