Photo from Caring For Our Watersheds
Loveland, Ohio – Students involved in Honors Biology, Green Team, and Environmental Science at Loveland High School have won thousands of dollars in grants to help local environmental concerns. They applied for the Caring For Our Watersheds program through the Hamilton County Conservation District. The contest awards grant money up to $1000 to implement a project that will benefit the local area and watershed.
Here are their winning programs:
Clean up for Candy
Roman Wilburn, Gavin Folzenlogen, Semi Ozarslan, and Busy Aiken will be recruiting clubs and other classmates to clean up recyclables after athletic events that would normally go into the trash. Volunteers get entered into a raffle for various prizes as well as a candy bar.
Drug Take-Back Day
Ashley Wheeler and Ollie Fisher are working with the Loveland Police Department to organize a day where parents can drop off medications that are expired or unused to be properly disposed of by LPD.
Contact Lens Recycling
Sonya Yurovski will be working with local Eye doctor offices to encourage the recycling of contact lenses and packaging. LHS will also be a collection site for students to bring their contacts for recycling.
Honorable Mentions:
Milkweed for Monarchs
Sophia Choi and Reese Renock created a program to increase biodiversity and provide food for the declining Monarch butterfly population. Sophia and Reese will hand out milkweed seeds and germinated seedlings for people to plant at their homes.
Reducing Stream Bank Erosion and Harnessing the Power of Mushrooms
Dharmin Patel and AJ Cook are creating erosion control barriers by stuffing burlap bags with a straw mixture that has mushroom spores that have been added. The mycelium that the mushrooms produce has been shown to have many positive environmental effects and will help reduce erosion.
Loveland students won three of the 10 statewide awards and both of the available Honorable Mentions. They will present their ideas to judges during an event at the Cincinnati Zoo on April 30. In total, these students will be managing over $4,000 in grant funds and will all earn prizes.
