Kohala teens meet president

By CAROLYN LUCAS-ZENK

Stephens Media

Four Kohala teens were among more than 30 students who had the opportunity to exhibit their projects and meet President Barack Obama during a national science fair Tuesday inside the White House.

“It was an amazing opportunity to represent Kohala and the state. I was proud to show our work, and let people know that a small town can make a big impact,” said Mina Apostadiro, a 13-year-old Kohala Middle School eighth-grader. “It was also great seeing the incredible things other kids are doing, which definitely inspired more ambition in me.”

However, nothing compared to shaking hands and talking story with the leader of the free world, agreed Apostadiro and her teammates, who described Obama as cool, professional, down to earth and easy to talk to.

“When he came in the room and walked up to us, we were all excited and I couldn’t stop thinking, ‘Oh my god, it’s the president.’ He shook our hands and all of our jaws were wide-open,” Apostadiro said. “When he found out we were his group from Hawaii, he gave us the shaka, asked us about our project and was genuinely interested. It made me feel really proud.”

Apostadiro, Rico Bowman, Genevieve Boyle and Isabel Steinhoff, who were all attending Kohala Middle School last year, saw no local ways to properly dispose of household batteries and predicted that if they gave people the ability to recycle batteries they could collect 60,000 batteries in 60 days. With help from mentor Lani Bowman, they set up recycling bins for batteries at different North Kohala locations, looked at the potential impacts of batteries disposed of in the landfill, offered community education on more effective and efficient ways to use and dispose of batteries, and counted and tested the collected batteries.

Their project, “6000 n 60,” not only reached the intended goal, but also increased awareness and participation in the effort. It also became the winning middle school team in the 2011 Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge. Each team member received a $10,000 savings bond, a Discovery Adventures trip to Costa Rica, a pocket video camera and a prize pack.

Only last week did the team learn that they would be traveling to Washington, D.C., for the second White House Science Fair, which featured more than 100 students from various states, representing more than 40 different science, technology, engineering and math competitions. Projects included using genes to improve farming, inventing dissolvable sugar packets to reduce waste, writing a video game that focuses on saving the environment, developing a portable disaster relief shelter and designing a more efficient way to collect solar energy.

“To see our little project go so far and get attention from top officials, some of our country’s smartest people and respected universities, like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at our nation’s capital is incredible. An experience like this showed these kids that they can do anything,” Lani Bowman said. “The team has a poster board that says, ‘We are changing the world.’ Their motto is to be the change they want tomorrow.”

She described the national science fair’s atmosphere as “totally exciting,” and “at times, we felt like Crocodile Dundee in the city.”

A goal of the event was to recognize the talents of America’s next generation of scientists, engineers, inventors and innovations. Officials from the National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Cancer Institute were among the attendees.

“It was a shock to see all the projects because a lot of them were really advanced and dealt with complex issues, such as (system) a girl designed that targeted drug delivery to cancer stem cells,” Apostadiro said.

What Boyle, a Kohala High School freshman, thinks made her team’s project stick out was “it proved regular kids can help out their community.”

“You don’t need to dedicate every single minute, hour or day to make a difference,” the 14-year-old said. “Anybody can do what we did, and we hope this inspires them to they do something that helps their town.”

Rico Bowman, now a 14-year-old Kamehameha-Oahu freshman, agreed. “You don’t have to be smart to make a difference,” he added.

The 6000 n 60 project is ongoing. The group intends to speak to state representatives about state involvement because battery recycling is a state-, nation- and worldwide issue. One idea is to have a tax on batteries, which would generate funds to pay for shipping them to the mainland for recycling, Boyle said.

“We hope to continue to inspire Hawaii residents and others to become more conscientious in their use and disposal of batteries,” said Steinhoff, now a 14-year-old Kohala High School freshman. “Taking better care of the Earth is everyone’s responsibility. It’s also our dream, and the president told us to go for our dreams.”

Email Carolyn Lucas-Zenk at clucas-zenk@westhawaiitoday.com.