The Caring for the Kenai Competition wrapped up last week. The Smart Stocker created by Abigail Youngberg of Cook Inlet Academy took top honors and an award of $1,600 in the 32nd annual Caring for the Kenai environmental awareness competition.
Youngberg told KSRM:
“The Smart Stocker would prepare everyone for a natural disaster before it happens by giving them emergency supplies and food so they can be prepared. I talked with major grocers such as Kroger and I’ve just been reaching out to see if they were willing to implement my ideas.”
Jessica Perry, a sophomore from Nikiski, earned second place and $1,100 with her B.E.E. Bold curriculum for elementary school students:
“So, my idea is environmental education curriculum for elementary school students taught by high school students, which is using near peer teaching to help educate the children of the Kenai Peninsula. My program is already set with standards of the district already, but I’m working with Billeen Carlson out of Nikolaevsk to further it, get it piloted in the district and also see what we can do to make it a bridge between Caring for the Kenai and elementary and middle schools.”
Lauren Lamb of CIA created Karen for the Kenai and took third place as well as a $900 cash award for her digital book series about the environment:
“My idea is a digital picture book series about Karen caring for the environment. I got it from a joke that my dad said at dinner one time. I think I’m going to make more books in the future and go to more classrooms and teach more kids about it.”
Mylan Johnson, a junior at Homer High School who earned 4th place and a cash award of $750, plans on using recycled French fry oil to power cars:
“I was inspired from a friend who used vegetable oil to run his boat and started doing research and I went from there. This is a long-forgotten idea. I was just trying to reintroduce it and bring it back to life. I can see myself definitely collecting the oil and one day possibly converting my own diesel truck to run on veggie oil.”
In addition to the $8,000 in cash awards for the finalists, this year $20,000 will be awarded to the school’s classrooms of the finalists thanks to CFK’s sponsorship from Marathon Petroleum Corporation. Students can enter every year of their high school career, whether the contest is assigned in class or not. Each school receives $750 for their participation and the remainder of the $20,000 is allocated according to how the school’s students ranked in the CFK competition.
Due to the student scheduling conflicts, the joint chamber presentation scheduled for April 28 will now be held on May 11 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex along with the Soldotna Chamber Scholarship awards and is open to the public.
This year’s panel of judges included KPB Assembly President Brent Johnson, Bruce Jackman (Marathon Petroleum Corporation), KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland, KPEDD Executive Director Tim Dillon, PCHS Executive Director Ben Wright, KRSA Executive Director Shannon Martin and 2021 CFK 1st Place Winner Emily Moss.