2024 USa OurEcho Challenge TEAMS

Congratulations to the 2024 Winners

1st Place - $5,000: Marine Guard

Florida Atlantic University High School in Coral Springs, Florida
‍Marine Guard is addressing the significant nutrient pollution impacting the brackish water ecosystems of South Florida. The project proposes a natural solution to combat pollution by utilizing Gracilaria tikvahiae, a type of red algae, as a biofilter.

2nd Place - $2,500: Monarchs Matter
People's Choice Award Winner

Monarchs Matter in Great Neck, New York
‍This team is addressing the monarch populations, which are threatened by habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change resulting from human activities. Their goal is to collaborate with local non-profits to host youth programs and a webinar series to increase awareness of the importance of monarch conservation. The ultimate goal is to raise, tag, and release 500+ monarchs to contribute to local research and to plant milkweed plants to help monarch populations.

3rd Place -$1,000: BitterAIDers

John P. Stevens High School in Edison, New Jersey
‍BitterAIDers is focused on increasing the American Bittern population, which faces various threats, including habitat loss in wetland ecosystems. To address this problem they propose to create wooden waterproof nesting structures and hope to increase vegetation by planting native species in wetlands.

Congratulations to the finalists

Biowaste to Biodiversity: The Biochar Brigade

Hawaii Tech Academy in Wahiawa, Hawai’i
This team plans to remove invasive plant species and convert them into biochar, a valuable soil amendment, using a biochar kiln. Self-watering planter boxes using rainwater runoff will support the growth of native species, promoting their resurgence in the local watershed.

Evaluating Microplastic Pollution

Seminole High School in Lake Mary, Florida
‍This team is addressing the escalating microplastic pollution in the St. John's River, which flows through diverse landscapes and urban areas into the Atlantic Ocean. The plan involves two primary strategies: (1) prevention, which focuses on advocation and bringing awareness to minimize microplastic inputs, and (2) remediation, aimed at creating ferrofluid (magnetic liquid) technologies in highly polluted areas to help attract and capture microplastics.

Jazzing Up Jordan Lake

Green Level Environmental Club in Cary, North Carolina
This team proposes to plant native plants, including Eastern Red Cedar, Swamp Rosemallow, and Crested Dwarf Iris, to help filter the water of Jordan Lake and restore the pH and nutrient levels to normal conditions. Jordan Lake experiences excessive phosphorus and nitrogen runoff from nearby urban and agricultural areas, leading to eutrophication and other negative effects on the ecosystem’s health and wildlife populations.

Oil Skimmer

Rowlett Middle Academy in Bradenton, Florida
This team is building a device that removes harmful oil from waterways. The design of the device aims to clear oil from the surface of the water more effectively than existing methods and techniques. The team’s ultimate goal is to increase the survival rate of sealife during catastrophic events such as oil spills.

ROOTing for Biodiversity

Poolesville Magnet High School in Poolesville, Maryland
‍This team is addressing plant biodiversity loss in Montgomery County, Maryland, which is primarily driven by suburbanization and the introduction of invasive plant species in green spaces. Their solution is an innovative community initiative, in which they plan to create and install native plant gardens (DiversityHubs) to encourage students to actively participate in preserving and enhancing the natural beauty and ecological health of the ecosystems in and around their schools.

Safe Prop

Rowlett Middle Academy in Bradenton, Florida
Safe Prop proposes to create safety covers for boat propellers which will help to protect seagrass and marine life. They are using a marine plastic that can be molded with heat to surround the entire prop, a design that is more encompassing than other marine vessel prop covers currently available.

Tree Teachers

Tree-Plenish in Lexington, Massachusetts
This team will use their role at Tree-Plenish, an organization helping teens host tree-planting events in their community, to incorporate more educational resources on biodiversity and planting saplings. They will provide a diverse selection of trees for students to choose from, which will increase the biodiversity of the community canopy, as well as materials to explain why this is important and impactful.