Hoboken High School Wins #NJSTEMTogether Communities Challenge

Hoboken NJ

05 April, 2022

8:02 AM

Description

Press release from Hoboken Public Schools: April 5, 2022 Hoboken High School's Environmental Science Club participated in the South Jersey STEM Innovation & Partnership's #NJSTEMTogether Communities Challenge. The #NJSTEMTogether Communities Challenge is an annual challenge for New Jersey high school students to come together and design a solution for a problem that their community is facing. High school students come together to solve the challenges faced by their community. The final presentation will be a virtual event to gather all the participants online and students will present their solution to a problem. The students will have to identify the issues that their communities are facing today and how they would like to address the issue. Hoboken High School entered two teams for the competition: H2Oboken and #Resilience_Hub-oken. The winning team, named H2Oboken, with Rowan Ellison, Zoe Magaletta, Ian Crespi and Jacob Linder, focused their STEM solution on both increasing the amount of green space in Hoboken and finding a means to absorb water to help prevent flooding caused by global climate change related storm events. The students created a website which allows city residents to sign up and request a kit which will provide them with the materials and expertise needed to establish a rooftop garden in their buildings. The soil and plants in these gardens can absorb water and reduce flooding. They evaluated the effectiveness of their solution by conducting soil analysis experiments to determine the soil type which is most effective at holding water and also has the slowest rate of percolation. They were able to calculate the total number of liters of water which would be prevented from accumulating in Hoboken's streets based on the estimated number of gardens which would be established. The green space provided by these rooftop gardens increases the health and well-being of Hoboken's citizens and also absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere. Mr. Jean Lebeague, Hoboken HS Environmental Science Advisor stated, "The team decided that they wanted to find a solution to Hoboken's chronic flooding problems caused by global climate change from the very first meeting. They also wanted to find a way to increase green space in Hoboken and improve the quality of life of city residents by establishing their rooftop garden STEM solution. Their solution was the result of research into flood mitigation techniques as well as how other municipalities have addressed similar issues in the past. They engaged with mentors from companies such as Arcadis and Siemens as well as with state and local lawmakersin order to further refine their solution. Each student brought their unique talents and strengths to the group and worked well as a team. They learned a lot about how to plan a public policy initiative from A-Z and how to present their idea in a convincing way to the judges." The Hoboken HS team placed 1st out of 20 State Finalists and over 100 participants across the State of New Jersey. The Hoboken HS team is advised by Mr. Jean Lebegue. Ms. Robin Piccapietra, Hoboken HS Principal said, "I am so proud of the commitment of our students. They continue to challenge themselves both in the classroom and in co -curricular activities. Having Mr. Lebegue as their advisor is a great assistance due to his commitment as well. I was so excited that they were in this competition, but to win 1st place is just icing on the cake. Congratulations." The Hoboken HS Environmental Science Club was awarded top prize that amounts to $2,000 and is sponsored by Siemens. This press release was produced by Hoboken Public Schools. The views expressed here are the author's own.