JCHS Water Wars Team Earns $10,000 For 2019 Eco Challenge

The Jasper County High School (JCHS) Water Wars Team won $10,000 in the 2019 Lexus Eco Challenge with their project Chat Up the Hooch.

The Lexus Eco Challenge is a program designed by Lexus and Scholastic to educate and empower students to take action to improve the environment. Lexus and Scholastic award 16 teams nationwide from two separate challenges. Winning teams receive $10,000 in grants and scholarships. Winning teams then progress to the final challenge for a chance at more grants and scholarships.

Only two teams from the southeast region were awarded in the Land & Water Challenge. The local JCHS team competed with teams from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida.

The JCHS Water War research team implemented an educational program about the scarcity of water and critical water issues that face the Chattahoochee River. Water is a limited resource that sustains life and the management of this resource is a topic that requires many collaborations and considerations.

The JCHS Water War Research Team spent time this summer learning about water scarcity in a Jasper County Charter System (JCCS) STEAM camp. The research team evolved from the camp with students who were interested in a take action project. The team has accomplished so much including: publishing a children’s book, posting free teaching resources on an educational platform, teaching second graders, and sharing on social accounts You Tube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

The team coaches were Elizabeth Proctor and Bonnie Garvin. This is the second year students from JCHS have won this competition. Last year’s group focused on pine beetles and how to maintain healthy stands of trees. This year’s winners were notified at the Student-Teacher Basketball Game.

Chat Up the Hooch team members include (pictured above) Bonnie Garvin, Julia Proctor, Kedarius Hill, Tionna Clowers, Spencer Hamblin, Zion Weise, Gavin Jacobs, Nykeria Greene, and Mrs. Proctor.