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10A - RED ROCK NEWS, Sedona, Arizona Wednesday, May 26, 2010
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SCHOOL sixth-
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Nagy-Cortes,
left, and Yeseeiri
Guzman, right,
along with teacher
and mentor Bonny
Smith gather in
Smith's classroom,
Thursday, May 20.
The two students
were recently
named state
finalists in a
national
middle school
sustainability
contest called the
Siemens We Can
Change the World
Challenge.
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Environmental project put
them in top 25 in country
By Lu Stitt
LARSON NEWSPAPERS
Big Park Community School received
national recognition thanks to two sixth-
grade students and their science project.
Marissa Nagy-Cortes and her partner
Yeseeiri Guzman decided to take the
Siemens Foundation We Can Change
the World Challenge. During February
and March, they developed, organized,
advertised and helped their neighbors in
the Village of Oak Creek cut down weeds
and brush to create a defensible space as a
precaution against wildfires.
Nagy-Cortes and Guzman also helped
pick up the piles and load them into a land-
scape company's truck to haul them off to
be recycled into mulch. They called their
team Fire Defense.
Through the process the students kept
a log and created a storyboard, including
photographs. They presented it to their
school, then entered their project with the
challenge. On May 6, Nagy-Cortes and
Guzman received notice from the Siemens
Foundation their project won top prize in
the middle school category for the state of
Arizona and put them in the top 25 finalists
for the national competition.
"We were really surprised and happy,
jumped up and down and squealed. The
judges looked through all the projects, and
we were No. 1 for Arizona," Nagy-Cortes
said, the excitement still audible in her
voice.
By the first of June, Nagy-Cortes said the
judges should make their decision who the
top three in the nation will be.
"We hope we get one of the top three so
we can go to New York and be on Planet
Green. We have a one-in-25 chance," Nagy-
Cortes said.
The two girls were among more than
6,500 students from all over the country
who created and performed projects that
identified ways in which they could help
their local environment.
Guzman thought the defensible space
project was a great way to help out her
community.
"Defensible space is a really important
thing to do to protect people from wildfires.
The more people know, the safer it is,"
Guzman said.
Both plan to continue with their project
and expand it to include neighborhoods
beyond their own, which is very near to the
area of the La Barranca Fire that burned
836 acres in June 2006.
Science and math teacher, and the girls'
mentor, Bonny Smith, said Nagy-Cortes
and Guzman are modest, so being in.the top
25 in the nation is a big deal for them.
"They did a fantastic job. Their project
was out of the box," Smith said. "They're
supposed to get $2,000 for the school."
A panel of environmental advocates and
science educators selected the finalists
based on the project's ability to creatively
engage their communities to resolve a local
environmental issue. Team Fire Defense
used Web-based curriculum tools powered
by Discovery Education to create their
project and the result showed how middle
school students can truly impact their
communities and drive positive environ-
mental changes, President of the Siemens
Foundation Jennifer Harper-Taylor said.
"The Siemens Foundation and its part-
ners are proud to honor these students for
their innovation and dedication in helping
to usher in a new era of sustainability,"
Harper-Taylor said.
The grand prize for the challenge is a
$10,000 U.S. Savings Bond; an appearance
on Planet Green, a 24-hour, eco-lifestyle
television network; a chance to present
their program at the United Nations and
a Discovery Adventure to Yellowstone
National Park.
Big Park Community School's acco-
lades go on to include Emma Keider,
Brooke Drysdale, Annie Parrella and
Valerie Luycks, fellow sixth-grade students
in Smith's class. They, as team "Let's
Recycle" received an Honorable Mention
in the challenge.
The four went through garbage cans
on the Village of Oak Creek campus and
counted the number of recyclable bottles
that were thrown away. They sorted them
out to recycle, then decorated recycling
bins and placed them around the campus.
After three weeks they not only recycled
bottles in the bins, but rechecked the
garbage bins to see if there were fewer
tossed away.
"All of the students who created a project
did a great job," Smith said.
Lu Stitt can be reached at
282-7795, ext. 122, or e-mail
lu @ larsonnewspapers.com
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