With high schools from Homer to Seward participating in this year’s Caring for the Kenai (CFK) environmental and disaster preparedness contest, a panel of eight judges from the professional community has selected twelve Kenai Peninsula Borough high school students to compete for over $28,000 in cash awards in the oral presentation phase of the CFK program sponsored by Tesoro.
From the more than 400 entries submitted in this year’s CFK over 100 were advanced to the semi-finalist round of judging. Semi-finalist entries will be on display Saturday April 5th at Kaladi Brothers Coffee shop on Kobuk St in Soldotna.
The CFK competition offers over $8,000 in cash awards to the best twelve proposals addressing the prompt, “What can I do, invent, or create to better care for the environment on the Kenai Peninsula, or to improve the area’s preparedness for a natural disaster?” Participating schools this year included Voznesenka, Seldovia, Homer, Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna, Skyview, Ninilchik, and Seward. KPBSD board member Sammy Crawford volunteered her day along with eight other judges to select the final 12, “I love it!” she said, “It’s so great to see how kids think and learn, reading their ideas and how they want to execute them in the community. For me as an educator it’s really inspirational seeing what our kids can do and how our teachers have mentored them through the CFK process.”
“The District’s students greatly appreciate Tesoro’s generous sponsorship of this important annual event and all of the volunteers that make this educational partnership possible every year,” said Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Steve Atwater.
“The opportunity that Caring for the Kenai offers our students to showcase their creativity and ingenuity is unsurpassed,” added Dr. Atwater. The CFK educational partnership is part of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District science curriculum. This year $20,000 will be awarded to participating schools thanks to a matching grant from Chevron, Tesoro, Kenai River Raven Lodge, Kenai River Sportfishing Association Conoco Phillips and Hilcorp. The $20,000 in CFK grants will be divided proportionately to participating schools based on where their students place in the final oral presentation competition to be held Thursday, April 17th at the KCHS Little Theatre, starting at 6:00pm.
In addition to the recognition and prizes that go to the 12 finalists each year, CFK’s Student Recognition award program continues to grow with over 30 local sponsors presenting special recognition awards to entries of the sponsor’s selection. Recipients will be announced in a Peninsula Clarion full page ad. The 12 CFK finalists will remain anonymous until after their oral presentations Thursday, April 17th.
This year’s CFK competition will be streamed live over the internet by Soldotna High School technology students and has been viewed in the past in countries such as Canada, Colombia, El Salvador, Greenland and Japan. The live feed, complete history and details of the CFK program are available at www.caringforthekenai.com . Become a Facebook friend of Caring for the Kenai or CFKenai on Twitter. CFK is part of the Kenai Watershed Forum’s educational program.