WAIMEA — The Kaua‘i Community Science Center, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, announced the student winners of their Climate Connect logo contest and the Wednesday, Aug. 5 deadline for its 2020-21 student internship program.
The logo contest grand-prize winner is Brynn Lee Hirata, a seventh-grader at Waimea Canyon Middle School. She won $200, and her logo will be used for KCSC’s Climate Connect project.
“The main aspect of this design shows Kaua‘i’s connection to our planet,” said Hirata. “It also shows Kaua‘i Community Science Center’s objective to encourage students to think about taking care of our island’s precious resources every day.”
Sarah Styan, president and CEO of KSCS, said the logo will be part of every KCSC exhibit and other KCSC communications promoting awareness of climate change and the connections between human actions and the environment.
“If we can all connect how our actions impact our environment, we will be better-informed to take action and promote positive change,” said Styan. “Together we can all make a difference.”
Other winners in the logo contest are Jashly Guillermo, a 10th-grader from Waimea High School, who received the second-place prize of $100, and Miley Cox, an eight-grader from Waimea Canyon Middle School, who received the third-place prize of $50.
“We hope that our Climate Connect initiative will enable students and the whole community to connect their actions with their environment,” said Styan, pointing out that, in the program, students choose topics of interest to explore. “We don’t want to influence their choices, but climate change is so important that we also want to support students to connect their interests to climate change.”
Another way KCSC is connecting students with the environment is through their 2020-21 student internship, which is associated with KCSC’s Ho‘okui project, funded by a Kupa‘a Kaua‘i CARES Act grant.
Any student age 5 through 25 can apply by Aug. 5 to participate in the internship program.
The selected students will do their internships between Kekaha and to ‘Ele‘ele, at one of KCSC’s neighborhood hubs, while helping KCSC bring its new project, “KCSC HOTspot,” a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot and STEAM activities plan, throughout each neighborhood.
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Stephanie Shinno, features and community reporter, can be reached at 245-0424 or sshinno@thegardenisland.com.
Mahalo TGI for this article!
As a clarification our KCSC 2020-2021 Student Internship program is for students ages 15-25 and we are now accepting applications until August 15th.
Any questions you can email us, info@kauaicsc.org.