“Most Creative and Innovative Project” at S.T.E.M. Visionaries Challenge

 

OA’s Environmental Club’s “Caye Caulker Mangrove Action Plan” addresses the problem of intense deforestation of mangroves due to coastal development. The students’ solution won “Most Innovative and Creative Project” for their use of interactive mobile app technology in addition to mangrove planting using the Riley technique. The Sagicor Visionaries Challenge is aimed at stimulating secondary school students to develop solutions to problems faced in their community using STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). This year’s competition saw the participation of 32 projects from 28 high schools across the country.

Caye Caulker’s team included team leader Buddy, and members Patrick, Adrienne, Daya, Kenisha and science teacher Sarah Requena.

“The first part of the plan involved educating the public about the importance of mangroves to the environment and the local economy. We then will work with the Village Council to understand the laws concerning mangroves and encourage a reforestation program whenever mangroves are removed. We would then experiment with different planting methods, such as the Riley technique, to determine the most effective techniques for our location. Finally, we would create an interactive smart phone app that will allow people to learn about mangroves, see pictures of our mangrove planting experiments and visit the sites on a trail walk using GPS coordinates. Visitors are invited to upload photographs of the growing plants to aid with our data collection and analysis”.