Lexus Eco Challenge: Air and Climate Challenge
The Lexus Eco Challenge is a STEM contest for grades 6–12 that gets students involved in an environmental issue that affects their community. Students use their critical-thinking and research skills to come up with a solution and to report on the results by way of an Action Plan. In the Lexus Eco Challenge, student teams tackle environmental issues related to land, water, air, and climate, and create practical solutions while competing for prizes. The contest is broken into three main parts. The Land and Water Challenge is first, followed by the Air and Climate Challenge. The Final Challenge is by invitation only, open to winners of the previous two challenges.
For the Air and Climate Challenge, teams can choose one of the following topics that impacts their local community:
- Global warming
- Climate
- Air pollution
- Ozone depletion
- Greenhouse gases
- Fossil fuels and renewable energy
Amount: A total of $500,000 will be awarded through the Eco Challenge as a whole. Sixteen teams will each be awarded $10,000 through the Air and Climate Challenge, as follows to:
- Two middle school teams in each of Four Lexus market regions—eastern, southern, central, and western (New Mexico is in the western Lexus market region)
- Two high school teams in each of the four Lexus market regions
Funding will be distributed as follows school winners:
- A $1,000 prize awarded directly to the teacher advisor(s)
- A $7,000 prize evenly distributed among the team members in the form of checks made payable to the parent or legal guardian of each student or to the student directly pending parental consent, who was part of the winning team
- A $2,000 prize to the winning team’s school
Awards for the final challenge (open at a later date to winners of previous challenges) are as follows: eight teams will receive $15,000 and two teams will receive $30,000.
Eligibility: The contest is open to students in grades 6–12 who are enrolled in a public or accredited private school or who are registered and homeschooled. Students must be legal residents of the United States or the District of Columbia. A team is made up of five to ten students and up to two teacher advisors. A teacher advisor must be a full-time teacher employed at the school. A teacher advisor can advise as many teams as desired, but no student can participate in more than one team.
This post was filed under: