By Hawaii 24/7 Staff
During the White House Science Fair Tuesday (Feb 7) four Kohala Middle School students had the honor of presenting their exhibit ‘Improving the Environment One Community at a Time’ for President Obama and officials.
Isabel Steinhoff, Rico Bowman, Genevieve Boyle and Mina Apostadiro took first place in the grade 6-8 division of the 2010-2011 Siemens “We Can Change the World†Challenge, for their household battery recycling effort to collect 6,000 batteries in 60 days. The team’s mentor is Lani Bowman, a former part-time teacher at Kohala Middle School.
The team, named ‘6000 n 60’, embarked on a campaign to improve their community’s use and disposal of batteries by giving people information on the environmental harm of batteries disposed improperly along with providing tips on how to better use battiers and provide opportunities for recycling.
For their Siemens prize team members each receive a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond, a trip to Costa Rica this summer and a pocket video camera to document their adventure.