For the third consecutive year, a North Broward Preparatory School (NBPS) 6th grade team has won the regional competition in the Lexus Eco Challenge. The group’s team named Mangrove Miracles includes teacher advisor, Hope Kennedy and students Lucie Brown, James Coll, Jordanna Doyle, Simona Parodi, Zening Xu. The challenge is designed to encourage middle and high school students along with their teacher advisor to make a difference in the ecological health of our planet, develop and implement environmental programs that positively impact their communities. The Mangrove Miracles will now move on to complete at the national level.
Team researched the many benefits of planting Mangroves near shorelines. Through their research, the students discovered that mangroves play a vital role protecting the coast during tropical storms. Which over the years have been intensifying due to global warming. The students then planted young mangrove trees, called propagules, in the school’s mariculture system. The team contracted local organizations to form partnerships and opportunities to transplant our trees in local areas in need.
More than 2,300 students in Grades 6–12 participated in the Lexus Eco Challenge, an educational contest that empowers students to learn about the environment and take action to improve it. A total of $500,000 in scholarships and grants is awarded to the winning student teams, their teachers and schools.
Lexus and Scholastic chose 8 Middle School teams as finalists. Each finalist team earned a $10,000 prize to be shared among the team, teacher and school, and was invited to embark on the final challenge to reach beyond their local community to inspire environmental action worldwide. In the final challenge one team will be selected as the National winner and share the title as well as an additional $30,000 scholarship prize.
Moving forward, the team plans to develop their model to help other schools worldwide research a local keystone, or irreplaceable plant species. They will then work with local environmental or higher educational organizations to contribute to the education and repopulation of the species.
About North Broward Preparatory School A day and boarding school, North Broward Preparatory School is an extraordinary community of learners and has been educating, empowering and inspiring day and residential students since 1957. We think beyond traditional education to transform learning and provide unique learning experiences outside of the classroom. Our students are immersed in a multi-cultural community and have the confidence to influence beyond borders. For more information visit www.nbps.org.
