2020-2021 STEAM Competition Winners:
Commack High School (Commack School District)
New Hyde Park Memorial (Sewanhaka Central High School District)
Sanford H. Calhoun High School (Bellmore-Merrick Central Highs School District)
Sewanhaka High School (Sewanhaka Central High School District)
Thank you to the following people who reviewed the student project proposals and provided technical expertise:
Susan Van Patten – New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Water
Corey Humphrey – Suffolk County Soil and Water Conservation District
Olivia Calandra – Nassau County Soil and Water Conservation District
Sally Kellogg – South Shore Estuary Reserve
Elizabeth Cole – Long Island Regional Planning Council
2019-2020 LIRPC Inaugural STEAM Competition Winners:
Cutchogue East Elementary School (Mattituck Cutchogue Union Free School District)
Accompsett Middle School (Smithtown Central School District)
On June 16, 2021 the LIRPC awarded Cutchogue East Elementary School, a top finalist in the 2010-2020 Long Island Water Quality Challenge, a $5,000 grant award. Students collaborated to research stormwater treatments to minimize pollution into the Peconic Bays. They designed a biorentention area on the campus which uses soil, plants and microbes to treat stormwater before it is infiltrated or discharged.
On April 22, 2021, Earth Day, the LIRPC awarded the Accompsett Middle School a $5000 grant for the implementation of a native plant and pollinator garden for the front entrance of the school. The garden will serve as an ongoing “classroom” for both middle school and elementary school students on how native plants and natural pollinators, such as birds and bats, can reduce the use of chemicals or overwatering.