Kalamazoo Central Team Wins $10K In ‘Eco Competition’

A team from Kalamazoo Central High School is one of eight groups from around the country to win $10,000 in the Lexus Eco Challenge.

"The Lexus Eco Challenge, designed by Lexus and Scholastic in support of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Agenda, is a nationwide education program and contest about the environment. It encourages middle and high school students to develop and implement environmental programs that positively impact their communities" - Kalamazoo Public Schools release.

The team calls itself the "KC Climate Advocates." Their efforts in the competition centered around the thesis of how to make their school district, KPS, a "greener district". Working with Consumers Energy and the U.S. Green Building Council, their "first step will be to have Consumers Energy “benchmark” the buildings in the district to identify opportunities for improvement. After the students receive the data about the KPS high schools, the U.S. Green Building Council will bring in experts to mentor our students as they formulate proposed recommendations,” student advisor Josh Gottlieb said.

As the competition continues, the winning teams from the first-round now move on to the final challenge which come with two grand prizes of $30,000 along with scholarships.