HHS finalists for $20,000 contest

By L.E. Crowley
Town Correspondent

All Hingham High School students are saying is: “Give Plants a Chance.”

Hingham High is one of 10 finalists for a contest sponsored by National Geographic and Sun Chips for a $20,000 grant for an environmentally friendly initiative. If Hingham wins, the money will be used to build a greenhouse at the high school.

And residents can help.

The winner of the contest, called “Green Effects,” will be based partly on votes that can be submitted on National Geographic’s contest website.

However, voting on the next phase of competition doesn't begin until July 7. Residents who want to help students and not forget to vote can sign up for a reminder that will be sent to their e-mail.

Dana Crosby the high school environmental science teacher, said in an e-mail that students are excited about the project, called “Give Plants a Chance,” based on John Lennon’s song “Give Peace a chance.”

Students produced a video—don’t miss the talking iguana—and posted photos on the contest website to highlight the reasons why a greenhouse at the high school would be educational to students and beneficial to the environment.

Students said that with a greenhouse, they could help grow endangered plants, similar to the way students take care of baby endangered red-bellied turtles until they are old enough to be released into the wild.

Assistant Principal Richard Swanson said Crosby has been contacted by contest officials to tell her Hingham is one of 10 finalists out of 2,500 entries.

The link to Hingham’s entry and video is http://greeneffect.nationalgeographic.com/idea/2365/page/last/?registration_terms=1#comment-1243.
The link to the contest homepage, and where voting reminders can be placed, is http://greeneffect.nationalgeographic.com/

Crosby said voters should cut and paste the links into the URL address because direct links do not seem to be working.