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Shaler Area High School wins first in Fairchild Challenge at Phipps

Shaler Area High School students spent the entire 2016-17 school year competing in the Fairchild Challenge at Phipps and were awarded for their efforts with the top award.

The Shaler Area High School team placed first overall in the high school category in the yearlong environmental challenge that consisted of five different challenges. Students receive scores for each challenge and the scores are totaled for the overall winners. The students competed against 17 regional schools.

Shaler Area students earned a perfect score for Challenge #1 for which they wrote and illustrated a children’s book. Students also placed 3rd for Challenge #2 for which students designed an app where users could grow a tree from a virtual seed. The artwork students created for Challenge #3 “Companion Plants” was chosen to go on display as part of a larger exhibit in the Center for Sustainable Landscapes. For Challenge #4, students wrote an environmental news piece.

The final Challenge #5 Environmental Action was the largest and most involved challenge of the competition. Students completed a series of projects to coincide with the challenge theme “Initiate, Implement and Sustain.”

For “initiate,” students outlined their new environmental pursuits, which included The Green City Remix project with the Heinz History Center, and the beginnings of a Pollinator Garden, which they hope to complete and have certified by the end of the 2017-18 school year. 

For “implement,” students discussed the School Flag program, an air quality action program using colored flags in the school lobby to indicate air quality; a hearty farm-to-table party, which included organic greens grown in the Tower Garden in the school and organic produce from local farms; and a contact lens recycling program for which students collected 3,309 contact cases to be recycled.

Finally, for “sustain,” students discussed the past projects that they created and continue to do, including the Winter Community Supported Agriculture share, growing seedlings and planting them in the Garden of Etna community garden and North Hills Community Outreach gardens, Earth Day school cleanup efforts and partnering with Alcosan to stencil storm drains warning of the dangers of illegal dumping.

The high school students received $1,000 for their school as part of their first place award.


Shaler Area High School wins Phipps Competition
TribLIVE | Local article June 14, 2017
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1800 Mt. Royal Boulevard     Glenshaw, PA. 15116     P 412-492-1200     F 412-492-1236
1800 Mt. Royal Boulevard Glenshaw, PA. 15116 P 412-492-1200 F 412-492-1236
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