Chicago Botanic Garden

for immediate release

Chicago Botanic Garden’s Student Eco-Competition
Partners with Planning Agency in Third Year

Fairchild Challenge asks high school students to think about 2040

 

Media Only:
Gloria Ciaccio
(847) 835-6819
gciaccio@chicagobotanic.org

GLENCOE, Ill. (Nov. 3, 2008) — The Chicago Botanic Garden’s Fairchild Challenge, a student eco-competition now in its third year, has partnered with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s GOTO 2040 campaign. The GOTO 2040 campaign asks citizens to build upon Daniel Burnham’s Plan for Chicago that is as forward thinking today as Daniel Burnham’s plan was in 1909. Students are being asked to contribute ideas about land use, natural resources, energy, economic development and transportation for the seven counties of northeastern Illinois.

In 2008, 1,500 students from 34 schools participated in the Fairchild Challenge. This year, the Chicago Botanic Garden expects 4,500 students from 50 schools in the seven-county region to participate. Students, teachers and schools can win monetary awards and recognition. The overall winner will select from several one-to-two week Teen Team environmental science expeditions offered by the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Earthwatch Institute. The Garden is accepting entries from high school students who will compete in eleven categories.

“This year's Fairchild Challenge is rooted in a community of not only environmental organizations, but institutions of planning, music, art, history, higher learning and so much more. Through this community, the Fairchild Challenge connects young people to a central unifying vision of environmental sustainability and empowers them as catalysts for those greater changes yet to come. Eleven Chicago area colleges have endorsed the Fairchild Challenge, recognizing its success in fostering that next generation of environmental leaders from the ever-greener Chicagoland community,” said Tree Sturman, Fairchild Challenge Program coordinator.

Categories include the following:
• Photojournalism: Make no small plans. Students will research and create a photo essay exploring how the Plan for Chicago has affected their communities and to envision a new Plan for Chicago in 2040.
• T-shirt Design: Plants for Life. Students will design the 2008–09 Fairchild Challenge t-shirt that emphasizes the importance of plants to human society.
• Eco-Poetry Slam. Participants write and perform an original poem that explores feelings and thoughts and/or raises awareness of environmental issues affection individuals and communities. Top poets will perform together as the “Eco-slam” team during the 9th annual Louder than a Bomb teen poetry competition, which takes place in late winter, 2009.
• Music Composition: Harmonic Convergences. Students will compose and perform an original song with an environmental theme. The Garden has partnered with the Ravinia Festival, where finalists will perform at Bennett-Gordon Hall on Saturday, March 28, 2009.
• Bioethics: A Matter of Opinion? A competition to create a persuasive 900-1,000 word essay addressing the practice of genetic engineering in the production of food and medicine.
• Commercial Design: Reinventing your trash. Using only waste items from homes or schools, students are asked to design and manufacture a functioning prototype of a consumer product (other than clothing) than might replace an item commonly used. A 500-word essay explaining the product will accompany the prototype.
• Watercolor Design: H2Oh So Important. Using watercolor paint or pencils, students will create a two-dimensional art piece to raise awareness of the beauty and ecological and/or social importance of fresh water in the Midwest.
• Environmental Action: Eco-Investigators. Students are challenged to investigate and access the environmental health and sustainability of school buildings and grounds. An eco-report card will be presented to school leadership.
• Picturebook design: The nature of your community. Students are asked to illustrate an eight page (plus cover) picture book with and environmental or environmental justice message, with the setting and content informed by a natural or social environment within ten miles or home or school.
• Land Use Planning: Go To 2040. Students will imagine a section of their town or neighborhood in the year 2040, and are asked to use LEED principals to plan the transformation of that section from its current state to a more livable and sustainable community of the future.
• Cartoons for Climate Change. Students will review a new report, Plants and Climate Change:which future? from Botanic Gardens Conservation International and will create a comic strip illustrating a case student on the impact of climate change on plants.
This year’s Fairchild Challenge includes a number of special events including:
• The Burnham Experience bus tour, showcasing the impacts of the 1909 Burnham Plan on the Chicago Region. October 17.
• H20h So Important, the 2nd Annual Fairchild Challenge Youth Symposium at The Field Museum. February 20, 2009. Featured speakers include authors Peter Annin and LibbyHill.
• Eco-Poetry Slam at The Chicago Botanic Garden, featuring student poets. January 31, 2009.
• Eco-Concert at Ravinia featuring student musicians. March 28, 2009.
• Fairchild Challenge exhibition on display May 3 through 12, 2009, at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
• Fairchild Challenge Awards Ceremony, May 10, 2009, at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
National City Bank is the presenting sponsor, with major support from Baxter. The Fairchild Challenge supports multiple Illinois Learning Standards in multiple categories.

Information about the annual competition is available online at www.chicagobotanic.org/fairchildchallenge or by contacting The Fairchild Challenge at the Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, IL 60022 and at (847) 835-8343. Information is also located at the seventy-nine Chicago Public Library branch locations.

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Editors, please note: The Chicago Botanic Garden's newsroom is online at www.chicagobotanic.org/pr. For digital images, contact Julie McCaffrey at (847) 835-8213 or at jmccaffrey@chicagobotanic.org.

The Chicago Botanic Garden, one of the green treasures of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, is a 385-acre living plant museum featuring 23 distinct display gardens surrounded by lakes, as well as a prairie and woodlands. With events, programs and activities for all ages, the Garden is open every day of the year. Admission is free; select event fees apply. Parking is $15; free for members. On Tuesdays, senior citizens age 62 and older pay just $7 for parking. The Garden is located at 1000 Lake Cook Road in Glencoe, Ill. Visit www.chicagobotanic.org, or call (847) 835-5440 for seasonal hours, images of the Garden and commuter transportation information.

The Chicago Botanic Garden is managed by the Chicago Horticultural Society. It opened to the public in 1972 and is home to the Joseph Regenstein, Jr. School of the Chicago Botanic Garden, offering a broad array of adult classes in plant science, landscape design and gardening arts. Through the Division of Plant Science and Conservation, Garden scientists work on plant conservation, research and environmental initiatives that have global impact. The Center for Teaching and Learning brings the wonder of nature and plants to children, teens and teachers. The Garden's Horticultural Therapy and Community Gardening programs provide nationally recognized community outreach and service programs. The Garden is also breaking new ground in urban horticulture and jobs training through a 15-acre project in the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago called Windy City Harvest. The Chicago Botanic Garden is accredited by the American Association of Museums and is a member of the American Public Gardens Association (APGA). In 2006, the Chicago Botanic Garden received the Award for Garden Excellence, given yearly by the APGA and Horticulture magazine to a public garden that exemplifies the highest standards of horticultural practices and has shown a commitment to supporting and demonstrating best gardening practices.