The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) recently announced that a team of students from the Reach Cyber Charter School, Dauphin County, has been selected as the PennDOT District 8-0 winner for its third Innovations Challenge. Mentored by Jessica Vernouski, team members include Audrey Vereshack, Madelyn Vereshack, and Elyssia Good.
Since last fall, students have been working hard to solve this year's challenge: Aside from laws, programs and educational campaigns, what cost-effective, innovative solution can be developed in the next five to 10 years to help PennDOT more efficiently, effectively, and safely control litter along roadways? The winning regional team's innovation was Litter Impact, an app to get users involved in community cleanup in a fun way.
Last year, PennDOT spent nearly $13 million cleaning up roadside litter across Pennsylvania. These dollars could have otherwise been spent on delivering a better transportation network and making Pennsylvania a better state in which to live.
Now in its third year, the PennDOT Innovations Challenge invites high school students in grades nine through 12 to use their problem-solving, creative, and strategic-thinking abilities to solve real world transportation challenges. The Innovations Challenge aims to not only help students explore actual transportation challenges that PennDOT is facing, but also open their minds to the very real possibility of working for PennDOT after graduation.
Regional winners will now move on to compete in Harrisburg for the state championship. The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) and the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful (KPB) organization are providing a combined total award of $3,000 to be divided among the first-, second-, and third-place statewide winning teams.
To learn more, readers may visit Pennsylvania Department of Transportation on Facebook.
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