Tracy Earth Day Challenge
Over 190 students from more than 30 elementary, middle, and high schools competed in this year's Earth Day Challenge. The winners in each category received $1,000 for their classrooms.
The Earth Day Challenge is a key part of Tracy Earth Project's annual Earth Day event.
Tracy Earth Project partners with Tracy Unified School District to challenge teams of students in all grades to select an environmental issue they care about, and create a solution that incorporates the environmental principles and concepts from the State Office of Education.
This year, over 190 students from Tracy Unified School District accepted the challenge. Tracy Earth Project member, retired teacher June Yasemsky, helped develop a project that would engage our youth and get them excited about environmental stewardship.
The Earth Day Challenge asks students to apply their STEM knowledge and skills--critical thinking, analysis, interpretation, inference, evaluation, explanation and self-reflection--to an identified environmental issue that needs to be addressed, making it a student-centered challenge.
“We ask students, What part of the environment do you care about? What bothers you? What do you want to address?”
June Yasemsky
Education and Outreach Director
Tracy Earth Project
Education and Outreach Director
Tracy Earth Project
Congratulations to our 2024 Tracy Earth Challenge Winners!
Elementary School Level
Stephanie Olsen’s team, representing Louis Bohn Elementary, won the Earth Day Challenge with "Protect Our Pollinators." The team's project focused on the importance of bees as pollinators in our environment.
Middle School Level
Lauren Coker’s team from Duncan Russell won at the middle school level with their project "Saving Energy With White Roofs." The team highlighted how structures with white roofs absorb less heat than roofs with color, keeping inside temperatures cooler.
Bohn Elementary School,
Stephanie Olsen, K/1st Grade
"Protect Our Pollinators "
Duncan Russell Community Day School
Lauren Coker, 7th/8th Grades
"Saving Energy with White Roofs"
High School Level--A Three Way Tie!
Eustacia Hall’s team from Stein High won the Earth Day Challenge with "Queen Bees" a project that emphasized the need to protect bees as pollinators from harmful pesticides.
Jennifer Botelho’s team from Kimball High won with their project "School Recycling," which focused on aligning school policy to reflect SB-1383, a state mandate intended to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and slow the effects of climate change by reducing the amount of organic material headed to landfills.
Ana Salazar’s team from Kimball High won the Earth Day Challenge with their project "Green and Grow," which focused on implementing a recycling program at school and educating students on how to separate their waste.
Stein High School,
Eustacia Hall,
Eustacia Hall,
11th and 12th Grades
"Queen Bees"
Kimball High School,
Jennifer Botelho, 11th Grade
"School Recycling"
