Essay Contest Challenges High School Students to Imagine a Clean, Sustainable Future for Beaver County
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(BEAVER COUNTY, PA – April 30, 2020) On April 22, Earth Day, Clean Air Council, ReImagine Beaver County and partners announced an essay contest for high school juniors and seniors challenging them to analyze sustainable development in Beaver County. This contest builds upon a ReImagine Beaver County initiative launched in 2017 to explore ideas for bringing environmentally friendly businesses or industries to the county.
“Given current concerns about climate change and the economy, we are asking local high school juniors and seniors to share their best thinking on ideas for how to advance a clean economy and green jobs for Beaver County,” said Terrie Baumgardner, Clean Air Council Outreach Coordinator for the county.
Students who enter the contest will be asked to read the ReImagine Beaver County report, which identifies four types of environmentally-friendly business or industry opportunities for Beaver County: Energy Innovation, Green Chemistry, Sustainable Agriculture, and Riverfront Development. Contest organizers are asking students to support their opinion about which one of these four types of opportunities has the best chance of success in Beaver County or to defend their choice of a different type of opportunity. Awards of $500 for first place, $250 for second place, and $100 for third place will go to the winners.
“Our hope with this contest is to engage our Beaver County youth in building for the region a 21st-century future that can weather challenges like economic downturns and climate change,” said Joanne Martin, Co-founder of Reimagine Beaver County.
The essay contest is open to students enrolled in grades 11-12 in a Beaver County public, private, parochial, or charter school, or who are homeschooled in Beaver County. The county’s high school principals and teachers were asked to share the contest announcement remotely with their juniors and seniors on April 22, Earth Day.
Students who wish to participate now have until June 3, 2020 to submit their essays. The complete essay question and all submission requirements are included in the contest announcement posted at https://cleanair.org/green-future-showcase-essay-contest/.
