GREATER Portmore Primary and Camperdown High walked away with the two top awards in the fourth annual Hellshire School’s Environmental Competition.

The two institutions were selected following deliberations by the panel of judges in the four months since the competition, hosted by the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), closed in May.

To participate, schools were required to create and implement environmental projects within their institutions, with winners selected on the basis of the results of their projects.

“This year, has been our most interesting and entertaining year, since we’ve started. The energy and creativity that were presented varied. However, we have seen where persons who have re-entered have grown and learnt from their experiences,” said judge Danae Vaccianna of the competition, which was opened in two categories — primary and secondary — between October last year and May this year.

The UDC’s environmental co-ordinator was speaking with Career & Education following the awards ceremony, held on October 7 at the Two Sisters Cave in Hellshire, St Catherine.

The Greater Portmore Primary team consisted of students Jadan Johnson and Mischa Kaye Orridge, and teachers/supervisors Janice Archer and Marcea McLarty. Their project was titled ‘Biodiversity, educating and protecting our species’, and was designed to educate people about how to care for endangered species, including certain butterflies and the American crocodile. The utilisation of the social-networking site Facebook to promote environmental awareness was a feature of the project that helped them win favour among the judges and ultimately the top prize.

St Jago Cathedral Prep, the second-place winners in the primary school category, created a project based on hydrophonics — growing plants in water without soil. Their team, which was comprised of several students led by project supervisor/teacher Nadia Gray, grew various plants in an artificial pond with fish.

Glowell Preparatory placed third in the category. They did a project which consisted of greenhouse planting, the packaging of herbs and recycling, which saw them using shredded plastic bottles to make bracelets. They also took the time to educate their schoolmates on how to conduct the practices they were promoting.

Meanwhile, Camperdown High School won first place for their project “Tracking of waste”, the idea behind which was to collect waste and find out how it travels. The team was comprised of supervisor/teacher Lincoln McFarlane and his team of seven students — Jessica James, Natanya Francis, Shavon Hutchinson, Jestina Williams, Kennisha Byfield, Krysqueka Pottinger, and Wendell Dillon.

In the past year, they visited various communities in St Catherine and collected waste material even as they used their personal time to educate members of the public about how to properly dispose of waste.

Merl Grove High School, the second-place winners in the high school category, created products manufactured from plants and plant waste, including body sprays, soaps and a cleaning solvent. Team members included students Nastine Morris, Racollie Cobrin, Anaecia Robinson, Michaela Richards, and Amoy Lewis and supervisor/teacher Annella McFarlane.

Cumberland High School, which placed third, created a solar dehydrator — a machine that dries food. They used the machine to educate other students at Cumberland High and others about how to dehyrate food for future use.

Team members included students Toni-Ann James, Kemar Adams, Jovene Bailey, Neighman Hinds, Otis Hinds, Tanesha Morgan, Javene Hossestead, Kamal Smith, Tavar Campbell, Anieka Maye, and Roshell Brown. The teacher/supervisor was Donovan Edwards.

The awards ceremony was followed by the annual Hellshire environment fair, a community outreach activity aimed at encouraging environmentally friendly practices, particularly among the young. The event saw organisations, including the National Environment and Planning Agency, the Scientific Research Council and the Institute of Jamaica, highlighting how students can best perform environmental practices among themselves.