education – The FAIRCHILD CHALLENGE

PHOTO: Fairchild Challenge LogoJoin the Fairchild Challenge!

Do you know a high school student who is passionate about the environment, who likes art, the written or spoken word, poetry, photography, or design? Then the Chicago Botanic Garden's Fairchild Challenge is for them.

The 2008–2009 Fairchild Challenge is now complete.
View results here.

The Fairchild Challenge is a free, multidisciplinary contest that challenges Chicago-area high schools to take action on behalf of the environment. Students participate in the Challenge by submitting entries in up to 11 categories that include land use planning, photojournalism, tee shirt design, music composition, environmental action, and more.

The Fairchild Challenge fosters interest in the environment by encouraging students to appreciate the beauty and value of nature; develop critical thinking skills; understand the need for biodiversity and conservation; tap community resources; become actively engaged citizens; and recognize that individuals do indeed make a difference.

H2Oh So Important, a Fairchild Challenge Symposium held at the Field Museum
Funding provided in part by Science Chicago, the world’s largest science celebration.

The kids had a fantastic time and it was a positive learning experience. Entertaining and educational all at the same time is a beautiful thing! — Participating teacher

On Friday, February 20, 2009, The Chicago Botanic Garden presented H2Oh So Important, the second annual Fairchild Challenge Symposium, kindly hosted by The Field Museum. During this daylong event, two hundred students from more than twenty Chicago-area high schools attended lectures and participated in hands-on activities designed to inspire a broad understanding of the value and importance of freshwater. Moreover, these students had a rare opportunity to meet peers from throughout the Chicago region and to explore together how their actions impact the quality and quantity of freshwater. Click here to download a summary of this event.

FOR STUDENTS

FOR TEACHERS

SUPPORT THE CHALLENGE

PHOTO: eco-storybook

Create an eco-picture book

PHOTO: poetry reader

Perform in a poetry slam

PHOTO: green building

Photograph your worldview

Students compete in 10 categories:

  • Photojournalism: Make No Small Plans — Research and then create a photo essay exploring how the Plan of Chicago has affected your community AND envisioning a new Plan of Chicago for the year 2040.
  • T-Shirt Design: Plants for Life — Create a design for the 2008–09 Fairchild Challenge T-shirt to raise awareness about the importance of plants to human society. Designs must incorporate both the Fairchild Challenge and Chicago Botanic Garden logos.
  • Eco-Poetry Slam — Write and perform an original poem for the 2009 Fairchild Challenge Eco-Poetry Slam. Your poem should creatively explore your feelings and thoughts and/or raise awareness of an environmental issue affecting you and or your community.
  • Music Composition: Harmonic Convergence — Compose and perform an original song raising awareness about an environmental issue(s) that affects you and your community. Your song should inspire and influence others to care about your chosen issue(s) and take action to make a difference.
  • Bioethics: A Matter of Opinion? In 900 to 1,000 words, present a persuasive, well-conceived essay addressing one of two ethical considerations.
  • Commercial Design: Reinventing Your Trash — Using only waste items from your household or school, design and manufacture a functioning prototype of a consumer product (other than clothing) that might replace an item commonly used in your home or school.
  • Watercolor Design: H2Oh so Important — Using watercolor paint and/or pencils, create a two-dimensional art piece to raise awareness of the beauty and ecological and/or social importance of fresh water in the midwestern United States.
  • Environmental Action: Eco-Investigators — Investigate the environmental health and sustainability of your school and school grounds. Develop and present an eco-report to your school’s leadership highlighting the results of your investigation and providing recommendations for improvement.
  • Picture Book Design: The Nature of Your Community — Write and illustrate an eight-page (plus cover) picture book with an environmental or environmental justice message. The setting and content of your story must reflect and be informed by the natural and social environment within 10 miles of your home or school.
  • Land Use Planning: GO TO 2040 — Imagine a section of your town or neighborhood in the year 2040. Using the principals of LEED for Neighborhood Development (ND), transform that section from what it is today into a more livable and environmentally sustainable community.
  • Cartoons for Climate Change, Create an 8- by 10-inch cartoon in black and white or color to illustrate one of the case studies contained in Plants and Climate Change: Which Future? (Visit www.bgci.org/education/fairchildclimatechange.)

Participation in the Fairchild Challenge is FREE and open to ALL high schools in Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Kenosha (WI), Lake (IL and IN), McHenry, and Will counties. If you are outside these counties you may still participate. Contact Tree Sturman for details.

Questions? Contact Tree Sturman at (847) 835-8343 or e-mail .

The Fairchild Challenge program was designed and initiated by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables-Miami, Florida,
which continues to support expansion sites in the United States and internationally. The Fairchild Challenge is made possible through the generous support of the following organizations and contributors:

Major Sponsor:
LOGO: Baxter