Lincoln Avenue SEED Students Present at

Earth Day N.Y. Celebration

Two students of the four-member Lincoln Avenue SEED team  participated in a student eco-focused panel at Grand Central Station. Displays promoting green initiatives surrounded the stage where they presented. The panel was part of the Earth Day New York celebration and was hosted by CNN, NPR, and Sirius/XM technology talk show host Mario Armstrong.  The invitation to present was extended after the students earned an Honorable Mention in the Toshiba/National Science Teachers Association ExploraVision competition. 

As the only elementary and the only all-girl team, Katie Gennosa, of Mrs. Whitehurst’s class and Emily Parsowith, of Mrs. Faulkner’s class presented their eco-friendly idea for Heat Energy Items (H.E.I.) and met Mr. Fuji, Toshiba’s CEO.  Also part of the team, but unable to attend due to the event falling during Sayville’s Spring Recess, were Hanna Decker and Gabby Thornton, both from Mrs. Whitehurst’s class. 

Since 1992 more than 270,000 students from across the United States and Canada have competed in the competition, so imagine SEED teacher Cindy Dwyer’s surprise when she found out that one of her teams had received an honorable mention. The Honorable Mention status places the team’s project among the top 10% of all ExploraVision entries submitted to the competition this year. 

“Originally the girls had the idea to make a bus that generated energy from the passengers’ body heat,” Mrs. Dwyer remarked. “Then the girls, ever observant, noticed I had a ThermaCare heating pad on my lower back from shoveling snow. One of the children jokingly asked if I was wearing a diaper. After that comment I felt the need to explain ThermaCare, and told them how it warmed up from contact with your body, using your body heat to generate even more heat. They wanted to see how it works so I took it off to show the disks. While the girls’ original plan proposed using similar disks. for the bus seat, when they held the ThermaCare heating pad and felt how warm it was, they came up with the idea for Heat Energy Items such as blankets and jackets that would harness your body heat to generate additional warmth through the charcoal disks, yet be lightweight so you can move around easily. They thought it would be ideal for people who had to work outdoors, such as soldiers, construction workers, and police officers, as well as campers, refugees and the poor.” 

“This is the second year that SEED students have participated in the competition,” said the proud SEED teacher.  “It is a wonderful opportunity for students to incorporate 21^st Century skills while applying STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Math) learning.”

The students are to be commended for a job well done in demonstrating innovative thinking in their exploration of science and its impact on technology and the future.  As an award, ExploraVision sent each of the girls a Certificate of Achievement and a commemorative glass clock. The H.E.I. team entry, as well as the other SEED student entries, can be viewed on Mrs. Dwyer’s webpage: 

http://sayville.k12.ny.us/webpages/cnacional/index.cfm