Winners of the “Visualize Your Water Quality” High School Science Challenge Announced

Six student groups from three states have been identified as the winners of the Visualize Your Water Quality high school citizen science challenge hosted by Esri of Redlands, Calif. along with the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US Geological Survey and the National Geographic Society.

Visualize You Water Quality in part of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Nutrient Sensor Challenge. This effort builds on the Open Water Data Initiative’s mission to make water datasets more accessible for better management of this valuable resource.

For the challenge student groups used Esri geographic information system (GIS) software and open water-quality datasets to investigate nutrient pollution in their local watershed—raising awareness for issues affecting areas from the Chesapeake Bay to the Great Lakes region. Students involved in this challenge created story maps using Esri ArcGIS Online.

“The winning story maps show that students weighed carefully various elements in a complex issue and put serious study into making the data intelligible,” said Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri education manager. “This is the power of geographic thinking: thoughtful analyses of data and careful presentations of patterns and relationships in ways that clarify complex situations.”

Students from 13 US states competed in this science challenge.  The winners were:

National Grand Prize—Understanding Eutrophication in the Chesapeake Bay (Washington-Lee High School, Virginia)

Chesapeake Bay Regional Prize—Nutrient Pollution, the Bay’s Biggest Threat (Poolesville High School, Maryland)

Great Lakes Regional Prize—Algae Affliction of Lake Erie (Father Gabriel Richard High School, Michigan)

National Geographic Prize—Eutrophication in the Chesapeake Bay: Fertilizer and Manure (Washington-Lee High School, Virginia)

Honorable Mention—The Chesapeake Bay: A National Treasure in Trouble (Poolesville High School, Maryland)

Honorable Mention—The Bonds of Water (Poolesville High School, Maryland)

The grand prize winner will be awarded $2,500 and an invitation to attend the Esri Education Conference in San Diego, California, June 25–26, 2016. The schools winning the Chesapeake Bay and Great Lakes Regional prizes will each be awarded $2,500. National Geographic has selected a National Geographic Prize winner, who will receive a copy of the National Geographic Atlas of the World. All six winning visualizations will be published in Esri’s Mapping the Nation book.

This is the first year that Esri has hosted this high school science competition and all of the monetary awards were funded by Esri. For this first year contest the sponsors opted to focus on just two of the country’s watersheds as options for the student groups.

Esri’s GIS software magnifies efficiency and understanding whereby students can enhance classroom assignments by applying mapping technology and visualization tools to them.

Esri’s ArcGIS Online School account is aligned with President Barack Obama’s ConnectEd Initiative. In 2013, Pres. Obama announced the ConnectEd Initiative with a goal to provide 99 percent of American students with access to next-generation broadband in their classrooms and libraries by 2018. Since then, public and private sectors have committed more than $10 billion of funding and in-kind commitments as part of this five-year effort to transform American education. To leverage this initiative, thousands of school and community leaders have pledged to help realize the President’s vision to move America’s schools into the digital age. Esri’s free, cloud-based school technology is part of this initiative and effort.