Intel-OAR Environmental Innovators Contest

2009 Presentations and Awards

Seventeen teams from five area high schools stepped up to the challenge to creatively solve local water problems. On December 16th at the Stow Town Hall, teams from Marlborough High, Algonquin Regional High, and Nashoba Valley Technical High presented their environmental innovative projects.

The Intel-Organization for the Assabet River (OAR) Environmental Innovators Contest challenged and inspired these local high school students to develop creative ideas on how to improve the environment in their community. Our rivers, streams, and lakes face many threats, such as nutrient pollution, loss of wildlife habitat, and the spread of invasive plants and animals. Their projects focused on water issues in the Concord River Watershed (containing the Assabet, Sudbury and Concord Rivers).

Representing Marlborough High School, the winning team of Jon DiBello and John Kasaras set out to develop a way to prevent the leaching of toxins from discarded cigarette stubs into our rivers, earning them a $600 prize. Also from Marlborough High, Daniel Suvalskas place second for his activated charcoal filtration system designed to reduce phosphates from stormwater runoff entering our rivers. In third place, the Marlborough High team of Alexandra Swanson, Pat Daly, Jessica Terrasi, and Jess Semedo proposed removing the invasive plant purple loosestrife through the use of beetles. The other finalists were Algonquin Regional High’s Mark Van Orden and Marlborough High’s Kyle Condry, Aakash Patel, and Vasilios Regan.

OAR wishes to thank the contest judges for volunteering their expertise and Intel for the funding to make this competition possible.

Photographs:
Click here to see pictures from the Award Ceremony.