THIS JUST IN!!!

FOR Immediate Release

Radnor Students Take Positive Action
to Improve the Environment
Effort Provides Chance to Win Part of $1 Million in Grants and Scholarships

RADNOR, Pa, December 9, 2008 – A team of 10 students at Radnor Middle School have entered the second annual Lexus Eco Challenge, a national contest that encourages middle and high school students to develop and implement environmental programs that positively impact their communities.
The Lexus Eco Challenge, created by Lexus, the luxury automaker, and Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, was designed to educate young people about the environment and to inspire them to create a better world. The students at Radnor Middle School have accepted the challenge by taking a stand and proving that a small group can bring about big changes. After carefully studying the local environment, the students have developed an Action Plan they feel will benefit their local community.
Our group has planned to restore the Pennsylvania native fish, the Brook Trout to our local streams. Since our 7th grade integrated learning program, Watershed, monitors water quality and is involved in many community action restoration projects we thought this would fit in perfectly with our studies. We have received 350 trout eggs from PA Fish and Wildlife to raise and release in habitat that we have restored in our own Darby Creek watershed. We are looking forward to a spring release date.
The community is invited to support the team’s Action Plan by donating gallons of natural spring water to help maintain a healthy habitat for our trout. Any stream clean up activities will be announced in the future.
Lexus and Scholastic will choose 16 winning teams nationwide. Each team will receive a total of $10,000 in grants and scholarships. All winning teams from this challenge and two other initial challenges will be invited to participate in the Final Challenge for a chance to win a grand prize of $50,000 in grants and scholarships.

For more information about this local environmental movement or to volunteer, contact:
Name: Jon Savitch and Banny Ackerman
School: Radnor Middle School
Address: 150 Louella Avenue Wayne, Pa 19087
Phone: 610-386-6300 x7210
E-mail: jon.savitch@rtsd.org banny.ackerman@rtsd.org