Students place in Zoo contest
Teams from two Gov. Mifflin elementary schools placed first and second in a Philadelphia Zoo contest aimed at getting kids to take action to support endangered wildlife.
A team from Brecknock Elementary School took home the top prize in the grade-three-to-five category of the annual Albert M. Greenfield UNLESS Contest. A team from Cumru Elementary School came in second.
The contest featured about 2,000 students from 250 schools and gave out awards for various grade categories.
Janemarie McKay, innovation teacher and gifted instructor at Cumru and that school’s team adviser, said the contest fit perfectly into Mifflin’s focus on providing students with project-based learning projects where they get a chance to learn while doing.
“It’s amazing there’s something out there that matches the expectations of our district,” she said, adding that the district feels it’s important to create citizen scientists and impact how students see their place in the world from a young age. “When you plant the seeds early on, that’s like a lifetime.”
The contest gave students a chance to take part in projects that empowered them to take action for endangered wildlife, McKay said. At Cumru, that was done through a study and cleanup of the Rabbit Run that flows past the school.
“We found, unfortunately, a lot of trash and a ton of grass clippings,” she said.
McKay said students cleaned the stream and embarked on a campaign to teach neighbors about why dumping grass clippings in the stream is bad for its health, going door to door to
share their message.
The Cumru team also took on efforts to help the monarch butterfly, the endangered species the team used to inspire its name, the Monarch Whisperers.
The students discovered there was a lack of milkweed in the community, which is the host plant for the monarch.
“The adults won’t lay their eggs without milkweed,” McKay said.
So, the students handed out and planted thousands of seeds of the plant and encouraged Shillington Borough Council to make increasing milkweed in community parks a priority.
McKay said her students were thrilled when they were announced the winner of the contest, despite having to find out about the secondplace victory through a virtual meeting because of the statewide COVID-19 school shutdown.
“I had been trying to prepare them, trying to really celebrate the project and not focus on winning,” McKay said. “I told them we already won because we had this experience together as being the Monarch Whisperers. But to see the joy on their faces when they found
out we won — that was the icing, for them to have that moment that they’ll never forget.
“Everything has been a letdown this year. We don’t get to finish our school year. We don’t get to have field day. To have something like this to end their year, it was magical.”
The team from Brecknock likewise had to hear about its first-place finish online. Like its Cumru compatriots, it didn’t dull their reaction.
“There was a lot of excitement,” said Rachel Sebastian, innovation lab teacher and gifted support instructor. “With everything going on, it’s been such a bright spot for these boys and girls.”
Her team, the Stormwater Stewards, not shockingly focused their project on stormwater. They studied how pollution on the land gets into waterways, in particular taking a look at road salt used during the winter.
The students wrote an educational rhyme on the topic, and performed it at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
The endangered animal the team focused on was the Atlantic Coast leopard frog.
Like McKay, Sebastian lauded the district for its focus on project-based learning and giving students real-life experiences that get them thinking about careers.
“At Gov. Mifflin we’re all about future-ready jobs,” she said. “We want students to be ready to make a difference in the world.”
And while doing well in the contest felt great, Sebastian said that is the real takeaway from the experience.
“It’s less about competing and more about learning to be an advocate for the environment and making a difference in the world,” she said.