environment – KPBSD Communications Field Notes

Caring For the Kenai

2017 Caring for the Kenai Competition

“What can I do, invent or create to better care for the environment of the Kenai Peninsula or improve the area’s preparedness for a natural disaster?”

Watch Live Competition Video http://bit.ly/2017CaringForTheKenai

When Caring for the Kenai stepped into its twenty seventh year, a new super hero was created by Soldotna Prep freshman Anya Hondel and it took first place honors and a $1,600 cash award in the annual environmental and natural disaster preparedness contest.

“I was trying to think of an idea but I was stuck. Science is not my best subject so I wanted to incorporate some of my passions into the idea. I love to teach and I love performing arts so my idea was to create a character that could raise environmental awareness by writing and performing a puppet show,” said Anya Hondel, student of Ms. McGlothen.
Taking second place and earning $1,100 was Angela Druesdow of Nikiski who invented a wolf yearn dispenser to keep moose off the highways. “My plan is to install my ‘Spook the Moose’ boxes along sections of the highways that have the highest incidence of road kills,” said Mr. Morin’s student.

In third place and claiming a $900 prize was Bradley Walters another Soldotna Prep student from Ms. McGlothen’s class. Walters, a Snow Shoe Gun Club member and skeet shooter has a plan to make lead contamination inert. “We apply a phosphate base fertilizer that immobilizes the lead from seeping into the ground and harming wildlife.”

Taking fourth place honors and $750 was Hunter Beck of KCHS and Kristin Davis’s student. Beck plans to build an outdoor platform to protect streamside vegetation from erosion so the Stream Watch program can continue.
Coming in fifth and winning the $650 prize was Kimberly Trefon from KCHS of Ms. Grossl’s class whose idea is to protect city rain drains from road run off contaminants.
The team of Krysten Johnson-Gray and Daisy Terry of Seward, Shoshana Brasher’s students won sixth place and a $550 prize with a tsunami song that they wrote and performed.
In addition to the $8,000 in cash awards for the finalists, this year $20,000 will be awarded to the schools science departments, thanks to the CFK signature sponsor Tesoro Alaska and the community partners Kenai River Raven Lodge, Hilcorp Energy, Peninsula Community Health Services, ConocoPhillips and Peninsula Radiation Oncology Center. High schools using CFK as part of state standards curriculum were: KCHS, Nikiski, Soldotna Prep, Ninilchik, Voznesenka, Homer, Seward, Cook Inlet Academy and several home school students. Each school receives $750 for their participation and the remainder of the $20,000 will be allocated proportionately to how the students ranked in the CFK competition. Additionally, twenty plus students will receive special recognition awards from local businesses and individuals.
Other finalists that earned $400 each for making it to the final 12 out of 400 some entries are:

Jacob McConnell of Soldotna Prep with his educational pamphlet on how not to get lost and what to do if you do.
Kylie Ness of Soldotna Prep wants to organize a fall community roadside clean up with contest incentives.
Giorgy Kalugin of Vosneszenka researched a way to deploy lady bugs to kill the aphid outbreak in the Southern Peninsula.
Brooke Nash of KCHS addressed the issue of mega food waste.
Chelsea Plagge from KCHS did an amazing research on a new triangle that produces electricity from footsteps called Pavegen. She is preparing to run an experiment using the triangles at her school.

“Caring for the Kenai is an excellent example of extending classroom learning into our communities,” said Sean Dusek, KPBSD Superintendent of Schools. “Student creativity and problem solving is on full display and I am very proud of what they have been able to produce from this experience. Our students continue to amaze me and clearly demonstrate that our future is in good hands.”

Eric Soderquist, KPBSD Director of Information Services, a former Caring for the Kenai winner, and judge this year said, “This year’s project ideas ranged from educational awareness surrounding topics such as food waste, energy conservation, and natural disaster, to Spruce Aphid control, and improving stream access for water testing projects. Anya Hondell, a 9^th grade student in Mrs. McGlothen’s class at Soldotna Prep, along with her sidekick “Captain Conservation”, presented a portion of a melodrama “Captain Conservation: Saving Energy One Plug at a Time” coming this summer. Captain Conservation battles Killer Watts while educating children and adults alike about energy conservation. The Caring for the Kenai event was broadcast live to audiences around the world utilizing KPBSD’s Polycom platform. An on-demand recording is available at http://bit.ly/2017CaringForTheKenai.”
In addition to cash awards the finalists will receive the 2017 CFK hooded jacket. Saturday, April 29, 2017, finalists, teachers and guests will attend the CFK V.I.P Awards banquet hosted in their honor by Tesoro at the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska. All of the more than 400 participants that entered the contest will receive a custom battery pack for charging handheld electronic devices. This year’s oral presentation judges included Borough Mayor Mike Navarre, Tesoro Vice president Kenai Refinery Cameron Hunt, Brendyn Shiflea of ConocoPhillips, Marnie Olcott, CEO Challenger Learning Center, Eric Soderquist for KPBSD Supt. of Schools Sean Dusek, Dick Erkeneff, Kenai River Raven Lodge, Albert Wall PCHS CEO and Hunter Hanson CFK ’16 second place winner. Caring for the Kenai is administered as part of the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska educational programs.

From Great to Amazing : 12 students compete for $28K

Caring for the Kenai

Twelve student finalists will take their innovative projects from great to outstanding in a live competition, Thursday, April 20, 2017.

Four hundred entries culled to 120 semi-finalists when eight judges set the final 12 pick on March 8, 2017, in the 27th annual Caring for the Kenai competition. The final 12 will remain anonymous until the evening of April 20, and have a little more than a month to further research, create, and prepare, in order to dazzle a panel of industry experts for the opportunity to win a portion of $8,000 in cash awards plus funds for their respective school.
High school students from Homer, Kenai, Nikiski, Ninilchik, Seward, Soldotna, and Voznesenka responded to the prompt: “What can I do, invent, or create to better care for the environment on the Kenai Peninsula, or to improve the area’s preparedness for a natural disaster?”

Live competition – 12 teens present innovative solutions
Everyone is invited!
Thursday, April 20, 2017
6:00 PM
Kenai Central High School Little Theater

Be inspired, learn, and support the twelve teens who will present their original ideas!
Bonus: this year’s CFK competition will be streamed live over the internet by Soldotna High School technology students and has been viewed in the past in countries such as Canada, Colombia, El Salvador, Peru, Germany, Greenland and Japan. If you can’t attend in person, tune in on a device or online. KPBSD will post the link on social media.
In March, the panel of eight judges from the professional community selected 12 Kenai Peninsula Borough high school students, from 120 semi-finalists, to compete for over $28,000 in cash awards in the oral presentation phase of the CFK program, sponsored by Tesoro. Judges reviewed more than 120 entries in the Caring for the Kenai (CFK) environmental and disaster preparedness contest. “The District’s students greatly appreciate Tesoro’s generous sponsorship of this important annual event and all of the volunteers that make this educational partnership possible every year,” said Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Sean Dusek. “The opportunity that Caring for the Kenai offers our students to showcase their creativity and ingenuity is excellent,” added Dusek.

Community Partnerships

The CFK educational partnership is part of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District (KPBSD) science curriculum. This year $20,000 will be awarded to participating schools thanks to a matching grant from, Kenai River Raven Lodge, ConocoPhillips, Peninsula Community Health Services, and Hilcorp. The $20,000 in CFK grants will be divided proportionately to participating schools based on where their students place in the final oral presentation competition to be held Thursday, April 20^th at the KCHS Little Theatre, starting at 6:00pm.

Student Recognition Program

In addition to the recognition and prizes that go to the 12 finalists each year, CFK’s Student Recognition award program continues to grow with over 15 local sponsors presenting special recognition awards to entries of the sponsor’s selection. Student recognition recipients will be announced in a Peninsula Clarion full page ad. The 12 CFK finalists will remain anonymous until after their oral presentations Thursday, April 20^th.
CFK is being administered as part of the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska’s educational programs. Marnie Olcott, CEO said, “Challenger is thrilled to be part of such a valuable program, for our students, teachers and communities. Challenger shares the vision of growing the program not only within Alaska, but on a national level; we look forward to a long, successful partnership.”
The live feed, complete history and details of the CFK program are available at www.caringforthekenai.com or visit https://www.facebook.com/caringForTheKenai.com
Contest Coordinator, Merrill Sikorski, 907-262-4949

2016 Caring for the Kenai Finalists

Teens present innovative ideas in live competition for 25K in prizes

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Contact: Pegge Erkeneff, 907.714.8888
News Release
Twelve students present their innovative ideas in live competition, for 25K in cash awards
Soldotna, April 18, 2016—How can we improve our environment or prepare for a natural disaster? Three hundred KPBSD students entered the annual Caring for the Kenai (CFK) competition and put their forth their best innovative ideas. The top twelve students take to the live stage Thursday, April 21, 2016, 6:00 p.m., in the Kenai Central High School Little Theater before a panel of community judges, and the opportunity to win cash prizes, and ultimately implement their idea. The public is invited.

Caring for the Kenai Live Competition
April 21, 2016, 6:00 PM
Kenai Central High School
9583 Kenai Spur Hwy
Kenai, Alaska 99611
Free, everyone is welcome

Now in its twenty-sixth year, the CFK community partnership offers cash awards to the best twelve proposals addressing the prompt,

“What can I do, invent, or create to better care for the environment on the Kenai Peninsula, or to improve the area’s preparedness for a natural disaster?”

More than 300 students from KPBSD schools including Homer High School, Kenai Central High School, Nikiski Middle-High School, Ninilchik School, Soldotna High School, Soldotna Prep, Seward High School, Voznesenka School, and Connections Homeschool submitted their entries online through the CFK website. “From simple but practical ideas to the use of hi-tech innovations this year’s proposals will challenge us all to do more for our environment and natural disaster preparedness. The oral presentations is an event not to be missed and is a tribute to our school district,” said program creator Merrill Sikorski.
“Caring for the Kenai is a great program that supports our efforts to have students apply their classroom learning in problem solving activities,” said Sean Dusek, superintendent. “This program is truly cross curricular and allows students to be creative and collaborate with their peers, teachers and the community. I appreciate the efforts of our teachers to integrate this program into their classes and am thankful that people like Merrill Sikorski have kept this opportunity alive for our students.”
The finalists will compete for over $8,000 in cash prizes for themselves, plus $20,000 in cash awards for their high school classrooms. Tesoro Alaska is the signature sponsor of CFK, administered by the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska. CFK Community Partners contributing cash for classroom awards include ASRC Energy Services, Hilcorp, Kenai River Raven Lodge, Peninsula Community Health Services, and Peninsula Radiation Oncology Center.
This year’s panel of judges includes Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Mike Navarre, KPBSD Superintendent of Schools Sean Dusek, Tesoro Plant Manager Cameron Hunt, Jade Gamble ADEC Spill Response, Challenger Learning Center CEO Marnie Olcott and last year’s CFK winner Keira Stroh. The public is encouraged to attend the CFK oral presentations to experience personally the great ideas coming forward from our youth. All judging prior to the oral presentations is done anonymously with the student’s name and school not being revealed until after the final oral presentations.
The competition will also be streamed live over the internet, and easily available by going to www.caringforthekenai.com and clicking on the home page banner.
Contact: Merrill Sikorski, Caring for the Kenai Coordinator, 907-262-4949
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Sixth grade student shares cycles and sapling story

Cycles Theme Leads Charter School Into Forest Help
—By Briea Gregory, 6^th grade student

Center for Alaska Coastal Studies staff member Patrick Chandler came to Fireweed Academy, a local charter school, to talk about how a forest is a cycle. (The school has quarterly themes, and this quarter’s theme is cycles.) Chandler showed the kids about forest cycles like the way it grows from a stretch of barren ground smoothed by a glacier, how it comes back to life after a forest fire, and other things.
Next, he led them through an activity that had them acting as spruce bark beetles and parts of a tree like the heartwood, xylem, phloem, etc.
Near the end of the lesson, he took students outside to the top of the hill beside the school to core a tree. The device used was not an axe, but a special device that looked like an uppercase T with a hollow inside that, when screwed into a tree, show the rings as a strip of wood with lines demonstrating where the rings were. (If you cored a tree, count the lines to demonstrate where the dark, winter lines are.) One of the kids also discovered a spruce bark beetle gallery (the lines left over in a tree from a spruce bark beetle) in a separate tree.

But that wasn’t all that Fireweed did to help the environment. The head teacher, Kiki Abrahamson, brought in bundles of fifteen spruce tree saplings for students to take home and plant near their own house over Labor Day weekend. Overall, the total of saplings came up to 1890 trees. The trees went to different students with instructions on how to properly plant them. Not all of the students took trees, but the trees ran out quickly anyways because some took multiple bundles of trees. That proves that environmental help can extend to schools.

Note: Schools and students are invited to send their stories and photos for me to share in the Field Notes blog. –Pegge

“What can I do, invent or create to better care for the environment of the Kenai Peninsula or improve the area’s preparedness for a natural disaster?”