Dora team takes first in national challenge

DORA — Prize money, prestige and a greater appreciation of science were some of the spoils reaped by five Dora High School juniors in a national competition this month.

Kirsten Tapia, Megan Stacy, Samuel Blaney, Lance Fletcher and Aaron Jasso achieved first place in the final challenge of the Lexus Eco Challenge, a national scholarship competition designed to empower students in grades 6-12 to learn about and improve the environment through science projects.

The team, called The Milky Way, was awarded a $15,000 grant, their second prize from the challenge after they won $10,000 from the air and climate challenge in February.

Their final project examined environmental impacts of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by supplementing livestock feed with Rumenase enzyme, a subject Tapia said is especially relevant in a rural community like Dora.

"This is important because the region that we live in, there's so many dairies, and I think that not a lot of people realize how harmful the gas is that cows release," she said.

Jasso was confident his team would fare well in the challenge because their project had received the blessing of Dora science teacher Laura Wilbanks.

"Our teacher came from another school, and she was pretty successful over there. Whenever we came up with the idea for the eco challenge, she said that it was a pretty good idea, and that it had a good chance of winning, so I was pretty confident about it," said Jasso.

The challenge gave the team a new perspective on the scientific process, and even showed them new career possibilities, according to Fletcher.

"I think some of them (team members) might not go into a field of science. I plan to go into a field somewhat around science, but it's definitely helped open our eyes to the way science works and how to conduct research and stuff like that, and it may open a door to an opportunity in the future for us," he said.

Wilbanks marveled at her students' achievements, citing their victory as proof that small schools are as capable of great things as their larger counterparts.

"I'm very proud of them because of how hard they've worked this year, and they've learned just to be diligent and to move forward," she said, "and they've learned that children from small schools can still make a difference and do great things."

The Milky Way was the only team from New Mexico to participate in the challenge.