H2O Challenge Announces Winning Teams

Imagining Tomorrow: H2O’ Challenge Announces Winning Teams

The Imagining Tomorrow: H20 challenge, an initiative of the Global STEM Alliance of the New York Academy of Sciences and partners Sisters Cities International and Sqore, announced two winning student teams, one from the U.S. and one from Ghana. The challenge was developed to encourage students ages 13-17 from around the world to create innovative science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)-focused solutions to critical water-related needs that exist in their communities.

Due to rapid urbanization and climate change, water is increasingly becoming a scarce resource in many communities around the world. To address this challenge and engage students in the solution, the Global STEM Alliance, Sister Cities, and Sqore created the Imaging Tomorrow: H2O challenge where young innovators were paired with expert mentors to develop their own sustainable solutions to these pressing water scarcity issues.

Using their passion for STEM, students applied their knowledge to either a "site water audit," where they researched how a site in their community could use water more efficiently, or a "fresh water in the future" challenge, where students thought about how water resources and general infrastructure could be maintained 25 years into the future. During the 60-day challenge, New York Academy of Sciences-affiliated scientists and practitioners served as mentors and supported the students as they researched issues, investigated options, and designed their solutions. 

Congratulations to the winning teams:

• Team"H20 YEAH!," comprised of  Adaline Kerr  of Whetstone High School and  Kurtis Chenoweth  of Columbus Alternative High School from Columbus, Ohio, was chosen for their gray water system solution.
• Team "Dayzins," comprised of  Zaid Adam Hadir Idriss  and  Yiwere Aminu  from Lebanon Islamic Secondary School in Accra, Ghana, were chosen for their rainwater harvesting solution.

Both teams received high scores for their ingenuity in using readily-available resources to solve a local issue. These winners were chosen from a total of nine submissions from Nepal, Ghana, and the U.S. The winning teams will receive a cash prize, as well as entry into The Junior Academy of the New York Academy of Sciences.

The GSA would like to thank the challenge participants and mentors; sponsors, Itron and Suez; and its challenge judges:

• Alan Cohn , Climate Program Director, NYC Department of Environmental Protection,
• Peter Corrigan , Service Hydrologist, WFO Blacksburg, NOAA,

• Ruth Marfil-Vega , PhD, Environmental Scientist, Innovation & Environmental Stewardship, American Water, and
• Eric Spring , Humanitarian Support Officer, Oxfam America.

Source: NYAS

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