STEM Students Win First at Regional Competition

Our STEM students took first place in the regional competition that was held at the Luzerne Intermediate Unit in Kingston.  School lunch debt is a huge problem in Pennsylvania and students are becoming victims of "lunch shaming" because of it.  Students who cannot afford lunch or have too much debt in their accounts can only get a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, which can be very embarrassing for the student.  Our students created a way to help students pay off their lunch debt and help clean up the environment at the same time.  Students can bring in plastic bottles and paper, which will be shredded and recycled on site.  Students simply punch in their lunch code and place the bottle and/or paper into the machine.  Students will receive 5 cents for every bottle and 3 cents for every pound of paper which automatically credit their lunch account.  They can also use the voucher to help pay off lunch debt or buy a snack.  We will use the shredded plastic by melting it down and creating supplies for school projects.  The paper will be shredded and soaked in water to create seed pods which can be planted back into the soil.