Project Green Challenge, a month-long lifestyle contest sponsored by the educational movement Teens Turning Green, selected two teams from Hopkins part of the 12 finalists nominated for a national Green Living Award.
The two winning teams were Team Green Peas, which included senior Nicole Jiam and junior Hannah Jiam along with two other undergraduate students, as well as sophomore Raychel Santo, who participated as an individual rather than on a team.
As a part of the Project Green Challenge, a set of thematically based challenges were issued to the participants for them to complete and earn points. At the end of the month, the points they accumulated as well as the quality of their final project submissions factored into determining the top twelve finalists.
For example, Team Green Peas won at least 90 percent of the 30 challenges in which they participated.
The daily green living challenges throughout the month of October consisted of new actions every day to live more sustainably. For example, the student participants hosted an e-cycling drive on campus, ate less meat, wrote letters to local environmental leaders and conserved water.
The tasks transformed the students into more informed consumers, and instructed them to investigate and research products beyond the surface information of labels.
"With all the knowledge I have gained from this month, I am now much more knowledgeable as an individual, consumer, citizen and future mother. Now, when I shop for bananas or sheets, I will not only search for the fair trade or organic labels, but also reflect back on the meaning of these labels and what I now know each signifies," sophomore Raychel Santo wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter.
Santo said that she learned that there is always a more sustainable option through the trials of the challenges, though it may take more effort to uncover it.
However, the Project Green Challenge was effective at educating its participants on finding the best websites on which to find eco-friendly products, companies that produce them and ways to recycle them.
The challenges instilled a sense of global and communal responsibility for the environment within the participants, encouraging them to act more sustainably for the greater good.
"If we do not care about the environment, no one will. Our complacency towards these critical issues of being responsible and sustainable is revealed by the climate changes, high pollution levels, obesity issues, endangered species, soil erosion, etc we see every day but turn a blind eye to," Nicole Jiam wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter.
The daily actions required great devotion from the participants and were very demanding, but, ultimately, they agreed that it was rewarding.
"There were times when I had an exam the next day but would still spend a few hours completing a challenge because of how involved and invested I became in this national competition. Being a team helped so much. I have no idea how we would have been able to complete thirty of the thirty day challenges if it were not for the support and efforts of my team," Nicole Jiam wrote.
When they started the competition, green living seemed daunting and impossible to embrace as a lifestyle. However, The Project Green Challenge altered the participants' perception of what living sustainably means and magnified the importance of doing so.
"I know I certainly thought being green meant I would have to make radical changes to my lifestyle prior to this challenge. This all has changed since. To me, living sustainably now means being smart about our resources, responsible for our actions, forward thinking, and kind to our bodies," Nicole Jiam wrote.
Both Santo and Nicole Jiam agreed that Hopkins is a model institution, promoting and enabling sustainable living. Additionally, Nicole Jiam explained that the competition made them more aware of the university's green efforts and Santo said that it helped further inspire her to pursue her passion for promoting green living.
"Honestly, I had no idea how well we were doing until I did a lot of research on our initiatives, recycling programs, energy saving mechanisms, food program, etc for the challenge. When I realized how far ahead we were compared to a lot of other schools across the nation, it made me feel proud to be a part of a university that cares about these issues," Nicole Jiam wrote.
The finalists will attend an educational summit in San Francisco, entitled Green University this weekend at which they will have the opportunity to mingle with renowned eco-leaders and other student leaders, present their experiences from the challenge and collaborate to create platforms to initiate social action. Teens Turning Green and youth nationwide will employ these initiatives in their 2012 campaigns.
Additionally, they will vie for the title of Project Green Challenge Champion, and the winner will receive a unique prize package and the opportunity to work with Teens Turning Green in the approaching year.
The founder of Project Green Challenge wanted both Hannah and Nicole Jiam to attend, but because they were both from Team Green Peas, there was funding for only one of them to attend.
Luckily, Dean Boswell and the Office of Student Life agreed to sponsor Hannah Jiam to also attend.
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