School Winners

Published 8:30 pm Sunday, August 9, 2015

Local teens Imagine a better future

Can the heat from industrial waste be harnessed for electricity?

Can annoying blackberry branches be turned into biofuel? How about the grape pomace left over in wine-making?

Local teens explored those and other questions at the 2015 Imagine Tomorrow competition, held May 29-31 at Washington State University in Pullman. The problem-solving competition challenges high-schoolers to create a more sustainable and fuel-efficient future, and gives them the opportunity to present their ideas to industry professionals.

Student teams from Henry M Jackson High School in Mill Creek took two awards, including first place in the Technology Challenge and fourth place in the Biofuels Challenge. Each student on the winning first-place team received $500 and their school received $2,000. The fourth-place winners received $100 each, and $500 for their school.

A team from Marysville Getchell’s Academy of Construction and Engineering won the U.S. Department of Energy’s BioenergizeME award, which comes with a trip to two national science labs to discuss their project with engineers, chemists, biologists and other professionals.

A team from Lake Stevens High School won Most Likely to Succeed in the Marketplace.

Read more about each team’s research at imagine.wsu.edu/past/2015/participants.html.

Teacher explores summer Space Camp

Monroe Elementary School (Everett) teacher Barney Peterson recently went through astronaut training to better bring science to life for her students. The trip to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, was part of Space Academy for Educators Program’s Space Camp for teachers.

She flew simulated space missions and ventured virtually on a rescue mission to save the International Space Station, learning to maneuver and manage a bulky space suit and helmet. Peterson and her teammates also slept in quarters designed to replicate the experience of sleeping on the ISS.

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