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Health & Fitness

NYHS co-wins Project Earth Award

Northwest Yeshiva High School and Amit Be’er Sheva High School are co-winners of the Sister Cities International Project Earth Challenge. Earlier this spring, Northwest Yeshiva High School Biology and Environmental Science instructor, Maggie Lewis led her 10th grade Biology students in a collaborative longitudinal Environmental Science project with their counterparts at Amit Be’er Sheva High School.  Students in both high schools worked together to reduce carbon emissions and pollutants, first by determining and presenting methods of improving public transportation in the cities of Be’er Sheva and Seattle and then by researching plants that best reduced carbon emissions.  NYHS Biology students planted trees on campus that will help reduce carbon emissions.  Amit Be’er Sheva High School in Israel did the same.  Representatives from both schools have been invited to receive recognition and funds to help future youth collaborations this July at the Sister Cities Annual Conference held in San Antonio, Texas.

Ecology and Environment, Inc. and Sister Cities International were interested to see whether sister city organizations would successfully reach out to teachers in sister cities and help them connect with their counterparts abroad, leading to connections between students that would result in both cross-cultural communication and environmental learning and problem-solving.   

David Miller, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Ecology and Environment, Inc. noted that project “Nature’s Air Cleansers” exceeded the requirements set out in the initiative.  He writes, “We appreciated its emphasis on the use of public transportation as a way to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the comparative ability of plant species to absorb carbon dioxide.

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Northwest Yeshiva High School’s Head of School, Rabbi Bernie Fox said, “Ms.  Maggie Lewis is a talented instructor who looks for creative ways to engage our students in learning science and being good stewards of the environment.   Working with the high school in Be’er Sheva was also a great experience for our students who look for many opportunities to connect with Israel.  We look forward to more collaborations using technology to bring us closer to those in our own area and around the world.”

Click here to view a short video sophomore Noah Zimberoff created about this project.


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