The seven challenges have been completed, hundreds of area high school students competed, and now it’s time to hand out the awards to the individuals and schools who placed at the top.   For each challenge, 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place and Honorable Mention winners will be announced and recognized with certificates.  The schools that earned 900 or more points will receive the Fairchild Challenge Award and the schools that received the most points cumulatively over the school year will receive monetary awards from $250 to $1000.

We’d love to have you join us for the celebration.  Come to the Phipps Conservatory Welcome Center (main entrance) between 5:45 and 6:00 p.m. and staff will guide you to the Special Events Hall for the Awards Ceremony which will get started by 6:15 p.m.   After we’ve handed out all the awards, we’ll make our way to our new building, the Center for Sustainable Landscapes, one of the greenest buildings in the world!!!  There, you can take a look at some of the entries, have some light refreshments and teachers can pick up the Frisbees and passes to Phipps which will be distributed to every student who has participated in a challenge over the course of the year.

If you have any questions, please contact Kate Borger at kborger@phipps.conservatory.org or 412-622-6915, ext. 3905.

The six challenges have been completed, hundreds of area middle school students competed, and now it’s time to hand out the awards to the individuals and schools who placed at the top.   For each challenge, 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place and Honorable Mention winners will be announced and recognized with certificates.  The schools that earned 800 or more points will receive the Fairchild Challenge Award and the schools that received the most points cumulatively over the school year will receive monetary awards from $250 to $750.

We’d love to have you join us for the celebration.  Come to the Phipps Conservatory Welcome Center (main entrance) between 5:45 and 6:00 p.m. and staff will guide you to the Special Events Hall for the Awards Ceremony which will get started by 6:15 p.m.   After we’ve handed out all the awards, we’ll make our way to our new building, the Center for Sustainable Landscapes, one of the greenest buildings in the world!!!  There, you can take a look at some of the entries, have some light refreshments and teachers can pick up the Frisbees and passes to Phipps which will be distributed to every student who has participated in a challenge over the course of the year.

If you have any questions, please contact Kate Borger at kborger@phipps.conservatory.org or 412-622-6915, ext. 3905.

Of course, the reward is the challenge process itself, but that won’t stop us from celebrating your successes!  We’ll be giving away cash prizes to the top-scoring schools and it all happens at the Fairchild Challenge Awards Ceremony, coming up Tuesday, May 28th (for Middle Schools) and Wednesday, May 29th (for High Schools).  The events will start at 6 p.m. each evening and will take place at Phipps Conservatory in Oakland.  Mark your calendars! 

The challenge was to create a publicity campaign to convince people to incorporate more plants into their everyday lives.  You found out the multitude of benefits plants bring with them and you put them on billboards, T-shirts, door hangers and in songs – all wonderful and very convincing!!  The judges included marketing experts from the Warhol, the Pittsburgh Ballet and Phipps, itself, along with a couple of plant experts.  Here are the results:

First Place: Shaffer Elementary/Woodland Hills Academy 6^th grade

Second Place: Mellon Middle School

Third Place: Woodland Hills Jr. High and Academy 8^th grade

Honorable Mention: David E. Williams Middle School for innovative marketing products!

Congratulations to all the participants!

For high school Challenge #6, we had some experts from Construction Junction and the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse come into judge the repurposed trash that was made into stunning purses, chairs, rugs, birdfeeders and, yes, even a speaker system for an iPhone (that was made out of plastic cups and a toilet paper roll).  They were impressed with your inventive creations for a more sustainable future.  Here are the winners and photos of some of the entries:

1st Place: Tiled mirror by Delaney Padgett and Emily Padgett, Moon Area High School

2nd Place: Purse of plastic bags by Amanda Kachaylo, Moon Area High School

3rd Place: iPhone Amplifier by Stephen Gross, Gateway High School

Honorable Mention: Rug of plastic bags by Lauren Briggs and Bella Tomko, North Allegheny Senior High School

We asked you to write a letter or draw a cartoon to bring attention to an environmental issue affecting us here in western PA. 277 middle school students explored and exposed topics from fracking to invasive species to climate change, and the panel of media professionals were mightily impressed. Here are the top winners:

Challenge 5A. Environmental Speakout: Letter to the editor

First Place: Caitlin Hayden, Shaffer Elementary 6th grade

Second Place: Olivia Sarson, Sewickley Academy

Third Place: John Dukewich, David W. Williams Middle School

Challenge 5B: Cartoon Message

First Place: Jenny Yu, Mellon Middle School

Second Place: Hailey Sanoske, Shaffer Elementary 6th grade

Third Place: Serena Yan, Marshall Middle School

Congratulations to all the participants!
Winners will be interviewed on the Saturday Light Brigade radio program this Saturday, April 27 at 10:35 a.m. Tune in to 88.3 fm WRCT or online at http://www.slbradio.org.

You talked about the wonders of dirt and the environmental impact of eating a hamburger.  Bravo! And the winners are:

Challenge 5A.  Dirt, the Movie

First Place: Elizabeth Michalenko, Moon Area High School

Second Place: Linda Huang, North Allegheny Senior High School

Third Place: Ben Rieker, Upper St. Clair High School

Challenge 5B: Food and the Environment

First Place: Ilana Symons, Gateway Senior High School

Second Place: Selin Sirinterlikci, Moon Area High School

Third Place: Sami Beining, North Allegheny Senior High School