Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo Partners with Connecticut STEM Foundation for Cool Blue Essay Contest

 Essay Contest for Students in 8th through 12th Grades
Bridgeport, Conn., May 4, 2023--Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo is proud to partner with the Connecticut STEM Foundation, Inc. in an essay contest for area students in 8th through 12th grades. Students are challenged to show in a 500-word essay how they might solve one of three environmental problems: air pollution, water pollution, or garbage/trash problems.
Cash prizes will be awarded to winning essayists:
·       First Place: $500 
·       Second Place: $200
·       Third Place: $100
·       Honorable Mention: $50
Contest rules and entry submission links can be found at https://ctstemfoundation.org/2023/05/02/cool-blue-bridgeport-essay-contest-2023-due-friday-may-22nd/
The contest guidelines state: In its efforts to make life better for human beings, modern society has brought about many environmental threats that are endangering wildlife, causing air and water pollution and creating climate change. Many of these problems seem to be so big and far-reaching, but students can and do make a difference.  

For example, one town on Florida’s coastline has developed a very simple way that ordinary people can help the environment. Trash left on beaches by enthusiastic beachgoers gets into the ocean and creates many problems for Florida’s marine animals. Turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish and ingest them. Other turtles have been found hopelessly tangled in abandoned fishing lines. Here is how one Florida town has solved the problem: 
Prominently displayed along the path to the beach are 5-gallon plastic buckets with a sign instructing beach visitors to take a bucket and pick up trash they see as they stroll along the shoreline. As they leave the beach, they deposit the trash in a large trash container at the entrance to the beach. 
In 500 words or less research how one of the pollution problems affects a specific organism in Connecticut. Describe a method that you, as a Connecticut citizen, can use to prevent and/or remediate the effects that the pollution creates for that organism. 
More information and research requirements can be found at https://ctstemfoundation.org. 
About Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo
Get your ticket to adventure! Connecticut’s only zoo, celebrating its 101st year, features 350 animals representing primarily North and South American and Northern Asian species. Guests won’t want to miss our Amur tiger and leopards, maned wolves, Mexican gray wolves, and red wolves.  Other highlights include our new Andean bear habitat, Spider Monkey Habitat, the prairie dog exhibit, and the Pampas Plain with giant anteaters and Chacoan peccaries. Guests can grab a bite from the Peacock Café and eat in the Picnic Grove.  As an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and participant in its Species Survival Plan (SSP) programs, the non-profit Zoo is committed to the preservation of endangered animals and wild habitats. Tickets must be purchased on the Zoo’s website at beardsleyzoo.org. 
 
About The Connecticut STEM Foundation, Inc. 
The Connecticut STEM Foundation, Inc. is an all-volunteer non-profit organization. Their mission is to foster interest among all Connecticut high school students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by providing experiences for them to present their original research and interact with like-minded students and professionals.