LI team finalist in national science contest
Team Ecotrash members Conor Ryan, left, Laurence Cardonna, team mentor Ana Topolovec, and Eric Wong Credit: Handout
A Long Island team named Ecotrash that helped come up with ways for schools and businesses to recycle has been named the New York finalist in a national science competition.
The Siemens Foundation, Discovery Education and the National Science Teachers Association announced the middle school state finalists of the second annual "Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge" on Thursday.
Laurence Caradonna, 13, of The Stony Brook School, Conor Ryan, 13, of The Laurel Hill School in East Setauket and Eric Wong, 13, of Gelinas Junior High School, in Setauket, are on the team. Their mentor is Caradonna's mother, Ana Topolovec, who works at Stony Brook University as an architect.
Teams were asked to address an environmental issue in their community. Ecotrash team members discovered that many small businesses and schools were not recycling.
They contacted them, brought the issue to their attention, helped do research on how to recycle and even did a public service announcement through Stony Brook.
"My husband is a small-business owner, and every week he would come home with all the recycling. Finally, my son said, 'Why do you do that? Can't you recycle at work?' " Topolovec said.
Students have been working on this competition since September. "When we heard about the competition, it fit, the timing fit, the topic fit and if anything, it kind of pushed the boys to get a conclusion and to really focus on analyzing the data. It's been a wonderful thing for them," Topolovec said.
More than 6,500 students competed on the middle school level and were judged by a panel of environmental advocates and science educators.
"It was truly interesting how I am just in eighth grade and basically, people are actually listening to me. I find it very interesting because usually I'm either listening to my teachers or my coaches," Caradonna said.
National winners will be announced on May 24. The grand prize is a $10,000 savings bond per student; an appearance on Planet Green, an eco-lifestyle television network; a chance for the team to present its program at the United Nations and a trip to Yellowstone National Park.
"Our students from Stony Brook looked at something as simple as recycling, but looked at it in a unique way," said Jeniffer Harper-Taylor, president of the Siemens Foundation.
