Fairchild Challenge, the award-winning environmental education outreach program at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, conductedits annual Environmental Debates for high school students on Feb. 6. Coral Reef High School took first place and Christopher Columbus High School finished in second place.
The topic debated by finalist teams was: “This House is defined as Miami-Dade County.”
This house supports renewal of FPL’s operating liense of the Turkey Point Power Plant for an additional 20 years.
Some 150 students from 22 schools in Miami-Dade and Broward participated. Students debated a total of four relevant topics in debate tournament style. In addition to the Turkey Point topic, other topics included the regulation of sunscreen sales, ending federal aid to rebuild in disaster-prone areas and whether or not to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.
The Fairchild Challenge is an award-winning, interdisciplinary, environmental science competition designed to engage students of diverse interests, abilities, talents and backgrounds to explore the natural world. The program has been recognized as a benchmark for exceptional STEM education and for empowering PreK-12th grade students to become the next generation of scientists, researchers, educated voters, policy makers, and environmentally minded citizens.
