May 11, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Redmond, Wash. – Two different students in Lake Washington School District are asking for your vote in online national competitions this week. Hillary Polis, a senior at Redmond High School, submitted an essay on behalf of Redmond’s student environmental group to the America’s Greenest School contest and is one of ten finalists out of over 2,000 entries in this contest to win a hybrid school bus. Zoe Brants, a sixth grader at Wilder Elementary in Woodinville, is one of ten finalists in the grades four through six category in the Doodle 4 Google contest, as the Region 10 winner. Both national competitions are open to online votes to choose the winner and both students are asking for your vote.

Polis is a member of Go Green (Greater Redmond Environmental Education Network), a student club that does recycling, carbon emissions audits, bus ride campaigns and other educational programs. Polis’ essay describes all the programs this group has been doing at the school, which have resulted in significant energy savings, more carpooling, increased recycling and composting of food waste. Among the programs are the 2000-Pound Challenge, which challenges teachers to save 2000 pounds of carbon emissions each school year. The students do energy audits of the classroom and help teachers with ideas for reducing their carbon footprint. The grand prize for this contest is a hybrid school bus worth $200,000 as well as a $5,000 scholarship and $3,000 cash for the school. The winner will be chosen through online voting May 11-17, at www.americasgreenestschool.com. Individuals can vote once each day during the voting period. America’s Greenest School Contest is sponsored by IC Bus.

Brants entered Google’s contest, which invites K-12 students to work with the Google homepage logo to come up with new designs. The theme this year is “What I Wish for the World.” Brants chose her own environmental theme, “Lets Heal the World.” Her doodle shows the earth with a thermometer, adhesive bandage and ice bag. She writes, “What I wish for the world is that we could all put aside our differences and come together to heal the earth. I wish we could all unite as residents of the planet to help end global warming, eliminate pollution and strive for earth friendly energy sources.” The National winner receives a $15,000 college scholarship, a trip to the Google New York office, a laptop computer and a t-shirt printed with their doodle. The winner’s school will receive a $25,000 grant toward a computer lab. The Google Contest voting takes place May 11-18 at www.google.com/doodle4google/vote. Brants is the Region 10 entrant for the grades four through six category.

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About Lake Washington: Lake Washington School District is a high-performing public school district serving Kirkland, Redmond and Sammamish, Washington. It is the sixth largest district in the state of Washington, with over 23,000 students in 50 schools.