A team of Mars Area Middle School students was awarded the Patti Burns Prize for Excellence in Communication & Media for their entry in the Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens Fairchild Challenge’s Middle School Jackpot Video Challenge.

The contest asked students to research, write and film a short skit featuring a community town hall meeting focused on environmental issues. The entry submitted by eighth-grader Olivia Airgood and seventh-graders Everly Henderson, Emma Johnston and Mary Rhenish discussed the invasive nature and potentially negative impact of mimosa trees on the environment.

To view the students’ video entry, visit https://youtu.be/Fsoh1-_VIjo.

In addition to winning the Patti Burns Prize, the students earned $500  to be used for science and sustainability initiatives at Mars Area Middle School. The students will also receive free passes to Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens.

“These girls participated in pretty much every challenge I threw at them,” says Courtney Waugaman, gifted teacher. “I’m glad that their hard work paid off.”

Phipps Conservatory’s annual Fairchild Challenge is a free, multidisciplinary, standards-based environmental education outreach program designed to encourage students’ innate sense of curiosity about the world around them. The program empowers students to engage in civic life and to become energetic and knowledgeable members of their communities.

For more information, visit https://www.phipps.conservatory.org/classes-and-programs/for-educators/fairchild-challenge/middle-school/challenge-3.