Students looking to work on their environmental skills and possibly win a scholarship need not look further than Project Green Challenge.
The challenge is a month-long scholarship competition in which participants, both individuals and teams, can participate in daily challenges focused on a different environmental theme each day. Each challenge has three difficulty levels: green, greener and greenest. Participants can earn extra points for creativity in executing the challenges. Challenges have included posting photos, writing short essays, creating Pinterest boards about the daily theme and finding eco-friendly alternatives to beauty products, clothing and food.
In addition to promoting personal sustainability, the challenge also promotes community involvement by encouraging participants to learn more about their local environments and to contact leaders in the environmental fields about which they are learning.
The PGC’s website describes the challenge as a “transition from conventional to conscious living.” Participants are encouraged, rather than simply going through the motions when making everyday choices, to think about the impact of their decisions and to be conscious in choosing environmental alternatives to conventional products.
To participate in the challenge students can visit projectgreenchallenge.com to register as an individual or a team of four. Students can then choose and complete their daily challenge. After completing their challenge, participants submit the project to the website, where they can earn points to win daily prizes and gift cards from environmentally conscious companies.
Julia Whitten, a freshman majoring in environmental science, participated in the challenge for the first time last year as a high school senior. Her high school English class with an environmental focus first sparked her interest in environmental activism and personal sustainability. Whitten also serves on the environmental council.
Ten to twelve finalists will be selected at the end of the challenge to attend Green University, a three-day summit in San Francisco, Calif., where they will interact with environmental leaders and create an environmental social action platform. Finalists will present their platforms to a panel of judges who will then choose the Challenge winner. The grand prize package includes a $5000 award and $1000 gift cards to eBay Green and Whole Foods Market.
Whitten, who now serves as a campus representative for Teens Turning Green, the student-led environmental group that sponsors PGC, was a finalist in last year’s challenge and attended Green University. She had the opportunity to hear leaders in the environmental field as well as invent innovative solutions to environmental issues.
“[Green University] was one of the most amazing weekends of my life,” Whitten said. “To come together with people that were so encouraging and positive in the field was really refreshing.”
The Challenge is centered on sustainability on a personal level, making students aware of eco-friendly alternatives to everyday choices and products.
The personal responsibility aspect of the challenge has made freshman Morgan Olive more aware of the environment and the effects of the choices she makes on it.
“I’m more aware of [the environment]. It’s not something out in the middle of nowhere. It’s all around me and my little actions really do have an impact,” Olive said.
The long-term purpose of the challenge is to help young people continue to make sustainable choices even after the contest is over. Olive said she will let the things she has learned from doing the challenge continue to influence her everyday choices, like having “Meatless Mondays” and looking at labels to choose more environmentally friendly products.
“The best part of [the challenge] was that I actually learned something,” she said. “I really didn’t think it would be that big of a deal, but it really has changed my perspective and how I go about things daily.”
