“Green Your School Challenge” from HP and DoSomething.org Draws 2,500 Participants
Five most innovative environment projects receive grants and HP technology
PALO ALTO, Calif.,---
HP and teen not-for-profit DoSomething.org announced the winners of the “Green Your School Challenge,” which encouraged teens to use technology to generate awareness and have a positive impact on the environment.
During the 10-week campaign, which ended on Earth Day, youth from more than 2,500 schools representing hundreds of thousands of teens nationwide led ecofriendly projects, including:
*Millburn Sr. High School (Millburn, N.J.), whose students raised awareness about air pollution by calculating the amount of pollution that idling cars in the school carpool line were emitting.
*Chapel Hill High School (Chapel Hill, N.C.), whose students used Facebook to ignite discussions around climate change, hosted Earth Week events such as “Recycling Spies Day,” which rewarded students who were seen recycling, and constructed a 12-foot by 12-foot cube representing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) saved by recycling a week’s worth of newspapers.
DoSomething.org has identified best practices implemented by teens across the country in a memo available at www.dosomething.org/green/memo.
“Teens might change their music, their hair color and their boyfriends or girlfriends, but their passion for environmental issues has not waned,” said Nancy Lublin, chief executive officer, DoSomething.org. “In fact, we’re seeing deeper understanding of the issues at hand and a stronger desire to take meaningful offline action to curb climate change.”
Actress and “The Daily Show” correspondent Olivia Munn was the spokeswoman for the campaign and showed her commitment to protecting the environment by issuing two public service announcements, participating in calls with students and serving as a campaign judge to choose the winning schools.
The grand prize winning students at Millburn Sr. High School in New Jersey will receive a $5,000 environmental grant, five new HP Pavilion dm1 notebook PCs and a chance to Skype with Munn.
In addition, students from Chapel Hill High School in North Carolina, Durand Middle School in Michigan, the University of Central Florida, and City Academy in Utah will be awarded $1,000 grants for their programs and HP Pavilion dm1 notebooks to help carry out their plans.
“The creative use of technology in this year’s ‘Green Your School’ projects was inspiring and something we can all learn from,” said Wayne Surdam, vice president, Media and Influencer Relations, Personal Systems Group, HP. “Each student and project had a positive impact on their schools, their communities and our environment.”
Projects were reviewed based on creativity, innovation and overall environmental impact by a panel of celebrity and expert judges, including Munn, photographer and humanitarian Nigel Barker and representatives from the Alliance for Climate Education, TreeHugger.com, Mobilize.org, Teens Turning Green, Climate Counts, Earth 911 and Boho magazine. Innovative usage of technology by the students played a significant role in their decisions.
DoSomething.org also paired with ChaCha, the leading mobile question-and-answer service and recognized No. 1 player in mobile SMS search, to reach and engage with teens on their smartphones. Together, DoSomething.org and ChaCha launched an inspiring program that sent “Green Your School Challenge” campaign information and an opt-in invitation to everyone who asked about topics related to the environment. More than 3,000 teens opted in and received mobile messages with tips and project ideas. Those who reported back via text were eligible to receive a Palm Pre smartphone.
Additional information is available at www.DoSomething.org/GreenYourSchool.
About DoSomething.org
DoSomething.org is one of the largest organizations in the United States that helps young people rock causes they care about. A driving force in creating a culture of volunteerism, DoSomething.org is on track to activate 2 million young people in 2011. By leveraging the web, television, mobile and pop culture, DoSomething.org inspires, empowers and celebrates a generation of doers: teenagers who recognize the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and then take action. Plug in at www.DoSomething.org.
About HP
HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure at the convergence of the cloud and connectivity, creating seamless, secure, context-aware experiences for a connected world. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.
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