Business View Magazine | May 2019

5 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MAY 2019 O p e n i n g L i n e s WINNING STUDENTS THINK LOCALLY TO SOLVE GLOBAL ISSUES IN LEXUS ECO CHALLENGE M A Y 2 0 1 9 T hink globally. Act locally. Isn’t that how the maxim goes? Not for the inquisitive winners of the 12th annual Lexus Eco Challenge. By studying alternative farming methods, these students found and implemented innovative solutions to reduce pollution in their own communities and then spread their love of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) around the world. More than 2,300 students in grades 6–12 participated in the Lexus Eco Challenge, an educational contest that empowers students to learn about the environment and take action to improve it. A total of $500,000 in scholarships and grants is awarded to the winning student teams, their teachers, and schools each year. Through the first two phases of the Lexus Eco Challenge, 32 middle and high school teams were selected as finalists. Each finalist earned a $10,000 prize to be shared among the team, teacher, and school, and was invited to embark on the final challenge to reach beyond their local community to inspire environmental action. The teams communicated their innovative ideas to a wide audience in the last round, broadening the reach of their work to people outside their communities. Lexus and Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, reviewed the finalists’ innovative submissions and selected one middle and one high school team as the 2018–19 Lexus Eco Challenge Grand Prize winners. The Grand Prize–winning teams each receive an additional $30,000, divided into a $7,000 grant for the school, a $3,000 grant for the team’s teacher advisor, and $20,000 in scholarships for the students to share. Eight First Place–winning teams are