Staples Students Meet 'Eco-Challenge'

Should Westport provide subsidies to homeowners to grow their own food?

Should commuters have to take a "train bus" like a school bus to get to the station and leave their cars at home?

Should Westport install solar panels at Staples High School and Bedford Middle School?

Competing in the Staples' first-ever "Eco-Challenge," 45 high school students working in self-selected teams of five during a 12-hour marathon think tank last month came up with persuasive mathematical, economic, political, scientific and cultural analyses of these and many other ideas for making Westport greener.

On Tuesday evening, they shared their brainstorms in sophisticated five-minute multimedia presentations to a panel of judges at the Staples auditorium.

At stake is $10,000 in cash prizes (donated by the nonprofit organization Green Village Initiative and an anonymous Staples parent) and no less than the future health and well being of Westporters.

The students were required to spent 12 hours straight working as teams holed up in a classroom with laptops, a SMART Board, pencil and paper. Cell phones were not allowed. They were asked to determine which of three strategies or a combination would most benefit Westport: growing or sourcing food locally, developing household strategies to reduce environmental impacts and installing solar panels at Staples and Bedford.

Each team carried out original research throughout the day and night.

On Team 102, students Annie Harnick, Kat Krieger, Lexa Koenig, Lena Ziskin and Nick Cion found that 103 gallons of gas are used by a trucker hauling fresh-picked green beans from Ohio to grocers in Westport as compared with a Connecticut farmer using two gallons.

For this and other reasons, the team argued for a $10,000 subsidy for Westport families as an incentive to grow their own food. The sum represents estimates of what a typical Connecticut family spends on food in a year.

Team 105 — made up of students Matthew Greenberg, Joe Stopper, Naveen Murali, Todd Lubin and Eric Lubin — calculated that more than 1,300 acres of land are available for farming in Westport.

Team 101 — consisting of students Isaac Stern, David Haswell, Robert Perry, Matt Silver and Connie Zhou — calculated that 342 vacant acres could be used for farming. But considering the economics involved, the team determined it would not be a practicable townwide solution because it would only feed 32 families.

On solar panels, there was much dispute.

One team concluded the panels would quickly pay for themselves as traditional electricity costs rise an expected five percent per year over time. Another team applied a different analysis to conclude that the price will be more attractive in five years and Westport should wait til then. Yet another team argued the solar option for the schools would not be a sound investment in terms of overall benefit.

Much thought was given to innovative ways for homeowners to reduce their carbon footprint: insulating hotwater heaters, lowering thermostats, and yes, making showers dual use (for contemporaneous showering and urination).

"But I hate low-flow showerheads," songwriter/music producer Robin Bateau, a judge, commented emphatically to Team 101 which espoused this energy-saving technique. "How can you persuade me to go for low-flow?"

David Haswell of Team 101 shot back with a rapid-fire rendition of all the environmental, social and economic benefits at stake.

"What more can you want?" he said, to audience hoots and applause.

All told, the students impressed the judges with their originality, quality of mathematical applications, thinking skills and command of the issues.

"That was great!" exclaimed Bateau, after Team 102's presentation. "So when are you all running for RTM?"

The Staples students who voluntarily participated in Eco-Challenge were given a 10-page question at 9 a.m. on Jan. 30, and had 12 hours to work as teams on solutions. By 9 p.m. that Saturday evening, without a break (pizzas, cookies and grinders were brought in by the parent support staff), each was expected to produce a polished 10-page report including links to Web sites for graphics. The judges will select the most persuasive presentation and rank each team from 1 to 5 at an a to-be-announced date in March. The top 3 teams will divide scholarships of $5,000, $3,500 and $1,500.

The Eco-Challenge will not end with the awarding of prizes. In fact, it will be just beginning.

The expectation is that the winning team will see Westport move toward implementing the ideas generated and developed in the challenge.

"Sell these ideas so they can be actualized is my challenge to you," commented judge Richard Cole, president and CEO of Connecticut Academy for Education, in concluding remarks.

"Your thinking out of the box is inspirational to us in town government," complimented Westport Second Selectwoman Shelly Kassen, who also judged the competition. "The town thanks you."

Staples principal John Dodig said he was so elated by the "brilliance" of the presentations and its participants that he plans to make participation in a similar challenge a future graduation requirement. He also thanked the faculty members who gave of their free time to assure the success of the Eco-Challenge, and called Trudy Denton, Frank Corbo, Julia Mcnamee, Kathy Sharp, Michael Aitkenhead and Lis Comm "the equivalent of an Olympic team."

"This is what all American workers will have to be able to do to compete in our new world economy," Dodig wrote later to the high school staff. "Teams of people solving difficult problems will ensure our viability as an economic force in the world despite billions of people in China and India competing against us."

Kimberly Lake, who chairs the town's Green Task Force, attended the Tuesday night presentation to tap into the high school students' brainstorming.

"The critical and strategic thinking demonstrated by each of the five Staples Eco-Challenge teams was superb," Lake wrote in an e-mail Wednesday. "They all correctly identified that, in the aggregate, Westport households possess the biggest potential for the reduction of carbon emissions.

"Their proposals to educate the community about switching to clean and renewable energy sources and to show that it can be an affordable option, such as through smart-metering, are ideas worth exploring seriously.

Lake, whose Green Task Force includes representatives from the Staples Green Club, said she invites all Eco-Challenge students to attend the task force meetings to help the town find more ways to go green.