Earth Day was a huge success!

Great numbers turned out at Friends of the Environment’s annual Earth Day Science Fair this year. A total of 262 students attended this year’s Earth Day Science Fair along with 30 teachers which is an increase from last year in which 188 students attended along with 21 teachers. Participation of schools also increased. Last year there were 8 schools that entered the competition; this year 13 schools entered the competition. The student count represented students from as far as Fox Town in the North and JA Pinder in the South. Groups represented this year that were not represented last year included Fox Town Primary, Amy Roberts, St. Francis de Sales, Abaco Central High, Cherokee Primary, JA Pinder, and Smith Memorial.

Students were very creative in their presentations in that they addressed relevant issues related to climate change such as tourism, agriculture, energy efficiency, recycling and food security. Students were quite knowledgeable about the topic and seemed very excited to present. The guest speaker also highlighted very important issues and also educated us about what is taking place locally. For instance in the Bahamas our contribution to the global Green House gases is negligible but the Bahamas and other Small Island Developing States will be directly impacted.

Both Junior board members assisted by introducing the guest speaker, which was done by Elaine Fenelus and by giving the vote of thanks,

This year Forest Heights Academy brought 40 students from their high school, which represented the largest group of high school students in attendance from any one school. They also showed great support for Friends of the Environment by having their teachers and students in attendance wear Friends of the Environment t-shirts, totaling over $800. Hope Town Primary had the largest representation from the primary school, with a total of 70 students. Their students wore t-shirts in support of Keep Abaco Beautiful.