Wow! Being from a small town, I never thought that my community would make national news, especially good news. But today, Disney announced that Mrs. Schnedler's 6th Grade Class from Mediapolis, Iowa, won Disney's Planet Challenge for 2010. One of the reports of the announcements is here. They are also scheduled to be on Good Morning America tomorrow morning.
Their project involved work to save the Northern Bobwhite Quail population. When I was growing up, it seemed like they were everywhere. There were places on the drive to school every day where you could always see a covey take flight when the school bus passed.
Disney today announced Mrs. Julie Schnedler’s sixth grade Mediapolis Community School class as the national grand prize winner of the inaugural Disney’s Planet Challenge, a project-based learning environmental competition for 4th – 6th grade classrooms.
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"It was such a tough decision for our judging committee to make. So many of the projects submitted exhibited environmental solutions grounded in science and teamwork," said Dr. Beth Stevens, senior vice president, Environmental Affairs for The Walt Disney Company. "Mrs. Schnedler’s class submission for ‘Operation: Save the Quail’ went above and beyond in demonstrating a dedication to understanding the environmental impacts of actions and initiating real-life change that they can be proud of."
But over the last few years, their numbers have dropped alarmingly. There were 31 million reported in 1967. Now that number is 5.5 million. (source: Discovery Channel)
Des Moines County, Iowa (not to be confused with Des Moines, the state capital) had a large number of these quail. Mrs. Schnedler had her sixth grade class investigate what is happening to cause such a decline, and what kind of an environment was needed to encourage the quail population to grow. With the backing of a local Pheasants Forever chapter, and the donation of a local woods that would be reshaped to provide that environment, the class project changed the woods to have the plants needed to support a quail environment.
I think what most impresses me is not just that the class investigated what was happening to the birds, but set about to get the support needed to actually start making changes that could be used to change things around and provide a better environment for the birds. With the grant money, and other money coming in from the publicity, it will now be the sixth grade project each year to keep the Luckenbill Woods as it needs to be to continue the work of preserving the quails.
They are an example to all of us that we can do little things to make this planet better.
Due to their hard work, my nieces and nephews may well be able to hear the same "Bob-White, Bob-White" that I heard every day while I was growing up.