Dora students win regional Eco Challenge

After emerging the regional victors of a nationwide science competition, a group of area students gained a plethora of rewards, both monetarily and intellectually.

Five Dora Consolidated Schools students — juniors Lance Fletcher, Megan Stacy, Aaron Jasso, Kirsten Tapia, and Samuel Blaney — discovered in January that they were one of two groups in the western region to win the Lexus Eco Challenge, a competition for students to help the environment on a local level.

Fletcher, 17, explained that the group focused their project on dairy cows and their steady stream of greenhouse gases.

“We put enzymes in cow feed to help speed up the production, and they produce more milk from it, and it also reduces the greenhouse gases they emit,” he said.

The findings were delivered to judges, who deemed the students the winners of the competition’s 11-state western region.

Jasso, 17, was stunned to discover that, out of the large talent pool, his group’s project won a $10,000 cash prize.

“The most rewarding part about participating in the challenge,” Jasso said, “is the fact that our school, Dora — small town Dora — won out of all these little towns in Texas and California. That, to me, is amazing,”

Jasso added that the environmental component of the challenge is proof positive that young people can reach monumental heights.

“That’s important because it proves to kids that they can do amazing things by learning science and moving on with their lives. Maybe it will teach them life lessons,” he said.

Ultimately, Blaney, 17, saw the project as necessary in helping the very thing that sustains life on Earth.

“The environment is what keeps us going. Without it, we’re pretty much doomed, so we’ve got to do what we can to protect it and preserve it for as long as we possibly can, and this project brings the young minds together to bring some ideas to the world,” he said.

The group is submitting their project to the final challenge, which offers an additional $10,000 in scholarships to be divided among the winners. Winners will be notified on March 10.