Fifth- and sixth-grade students in Christine Gray's class at Octorara Intermediate School (OIS) recently learned that the project they completed to benefit the endangered Humboldt penguins is a finalist in the Philadelphia Zoo's UNLESS competition.
Now in its ninth year, the contest asks students to create real solutions to current environmental issues. The name is based on a quote from Dr. Seuss: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it's not."
For their project, the student group, known as the Penguineers, designed and sold 50 reusable tote bags and 152 stickers to staff members and students, raising more than $455 in total from the sales and donations. Each blue bag featured the message, "Reach out a hand to a flipper in need."
Students learned that their project was a finalist through an email that Gray received on April 13. "We were extremely impressed by your project. Over 5,000 students in over 200 classes participated in the contest this year. Your class should be incredibly proud to be a finalist," the letter stated. "We especially loved how you focused on providing a sustainable, reusable alternative to plastic bags. Congratulations on a phenomenal project."
The letter also invited the class to attend the virtual UNLESS Awards Ceremony on Thursday, May 6, where the winners will be announced.
The students registered for the competition in early October 2020 and were then provided with five animals to choose from - the Atlantic Coast leopard frog, the monarch butterfly, the golden lion tamarin, the Humboldt penguin and the Rodrigues fruit bat. After a school-wide vote, the OIS students selected the Humboldt penguin.
The Humboldt penguin, a species that is native to South America, is currently endangered. Roughly 12,000 Humboldts are at risk of losing their habitat because of overfishing, climate change and invasive species.
The students learned that plastics, including plastic bags, are harmful to the population by causing a choking hazard and by polluting the water with chemicals. They came up with a fundraiser to make reusable tote bags and stickers.
They also created a website, posters, flyers and video announcements to share with the student body to spread their conservation message. "Throughout the whole campaign, my students would teach (the student body) different things about penguins, how to help the environment and how little changes can make a big impact," Gray said. "That's where they came up with creating the reusable bags."
The money that the students raised will be donated to an organization to help penguins. "The zoo has given us a few places and the kids wrote to each of the organizations to find out how the money would be used," Gray noted.
Gray said that participating in the contest allowed the students to sharpen their communication skills and learn about marketing their products. "They learned how to communicate with adults and also with each other," she said, noting that students also had to cope with pandemic restrictions and completing some of the tasks virtually.
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