During the 2018-19 school year, teams of middle schoolers tackled the problem of plastic pollution in our waterways with the National Geographic GeoChallenge. First-place teams from sixteen regional competitions traveled to the 2019 Geo Championships in Washington, D.C. in May 2019. This blog series introduces you to each of those teams in their own words.* Registration for next year’s #NatGeoChallenge opens in August at NatGeoEd.org/GeoChallenge.

Meet team Pollution Solutions!

The Pollution Solutions team envisions a dam to collect plastic debris in the Yangtze River, one of the most polluted waterways in the world. Their design includes a net that will catch debris but allow for marine life to pass through it safely. The collected debris will be removed and recycled.

From: Kehoe-France School, Louisiana

Team Motto: Protect, Love, and Save the Earth

The biggest obstacle you had to overcome as a team: The biggest obstacle was making our map more detailed.

Favorite moment at the regional competition:

Duc: My favorite moment was seeing Rishab’s reaction to winning regionals.

List one way you’ve changed your single-use plastic use:

Nick: I have been recycling and using a reusable metal water bottle.

When I think of National Geographic, I think of…

Rishab: I think of scientists exploring creatures and figuring out problems on Earth.

A part of the world I’d like to explore is…

Ginny: All seven continents and all 50 states in the United States.

 

Registration for the 2019-2020 National Geographic GeoChallenge opens in August.

*Team responses have been lightly edited for grammar.