JCHS Eco Challenge Team Prepares for Final Round

Scholastic just announced the winning teams of the Land & Water portion of the Lexus Eco Challenge and a team from Jasper County High School was one of the high school winning teams this year.

The “Chat Up The Hooch” team was awarded $10,000 and will have a chance to win an additional $30,000 in the final challenge round (which should be announced mid-April).

The Lexus Eco Challenge is a national scholarship competition for teens across the U.S. In support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda, each year, the Lexus Eco Challenge invites students in grades 6-12 to tackle environmental issues in their communities, create and submit their action plans and results, and compete nationally for a total of $500,000 in grants and scholarships.

The local resourceful group of seven learned that: 80 percent of Atlanta’s water comes from the Chattahoochee River—one of the smallest rivers serving a major city; there is a moratorium on drilling wells in South Georgia; and that Georgia’s water issues are not an official part of state educational standards.

In addition, they discovered 2019 data that showed Atlanta at the medium-to-high water stress level, which means the state of Georgia needs to prevent a water crisis. They decided to take action. Their answer: education. They predict that, in the next decade, water rights between Georgia, Florida, and Alabama are going to be a hot topic in the court system.

Their theory: If students are educated about water issues in school, then they will be more involved with creating water-usage solutions and conservation efforts to prevent future shortages. The educational system in Georgia does not specifically address how water rights are determined.

The team felt that students need to be better informed about local water issues and how water is divided. After searching Georgia standards, they concluded that this topic could be easily taught in Science and Social Studies curriculums for second, third, fourth, sixth, and eighth grade classes.

The team strove to teach younger students the background of water issues in their state, featuring historical information about the Tri-State Water Wars, the basis of much of the current problem. They used Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to get the word out about their research and the classes they visited. They prepared educational materials and had them translated into Spanish so teachers could inspire English Language Learners to participate too.

JCHS ‘Chat Up the Hooch’ LEXUS Eco Team includes Tionna Clowers, Gavin Jacobs, Nykeria Greene, Julia Proctor, Zion Weise, Kedarrius Hill and Spencer Hamblin.

This year marks the 13th anniversary of the Lexus Eco Challenge with more than 40,000 middle/high schoolers having earned over $7.5 million for themselves, their teachers, and schools through the challenge. Visit http://www.scholastic.com/lexus.