On the Eve of Earth Day, Thursday, April 21, the final twelve in the 32nd annual Caring for the Kenai competition will take the stage at the KCHS Little Theatre to present their ideas on improving our environment or preparing for a natural disaster in this annual Earth Day tradition. The finalists will be competing for over $8,000 in cash prizes for themselves plus $20,000 in cash awards for their high school classrooms thanks to a sponsorship from Marathon Petroleum and area community partners contributing cash for classroom awards.
Contest Creator/Coordinator Merrill Sikorski told KSRM:
“The live presentation will be at the Little Theatre, and it is open to the public this year. That’s neat to be able to come in and see what the kids are thinking about, what they can do, invent create or improve to better care for the environment of the Kenai Peninsula or prepare for a natural disaster. We have gotten some absolutely over the top ideas for natural disaster preparedness this year. You’re going to want to talk to these kids after they have their presentations because the creativity and the resiliency of our kids now emerging from this pandemic and going back to school speaks a lot and is a great tribute to our teachers, to our classrooms and how we have weathered this whole situation to get back to normal where a kid’s creativity is going to be rewarded. We’ll have close to $30,000 in cash awards that’ll all be earned by these kids on Thursday night.”
Sikorski talks caring for the environment and preparedness for a natural disaster:
“You know, that’s our prompt. That’s what turns into the assignment in the classroom and the kids just get their ideas and then they research their ideas. They put the practicality of the idea into an essay and then we select the top twelve from all the entries. We’ve got finalists this year from Homer as well as Nikiski and Soldotna and Kenai. We had entries clear across the Borough. Even some of the remote villages entered this year. We’re getting back to normal and that’s a good thing.”
Judging is done anonymously with the student’s name and school not being revealed until after the final oral presentations. This year’s judges will be Bruce Jackman (MPC plant manager), Clayton Holland (KPBSD Supt. of Schools), Brent Johnson (KPB Assembly president), Tim Dillon (KPEDD CEO), Ben Wright (PCHS CEO), and Emily Moss (2021 CFK 1st Place Winner). The public is encouraged to join the presentations in person or online. The program begins at 6:00 pm and winners will be announced that evening.
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