Sponsored by the Beardsley Zoo and the CT-STEM Foundation

Contest Deadline: Essay must be received by: Monday May 22nd 

Essay Submission Form:   Submit Essay to: Google Form Link   

• Please use Essay Contest Template

Certificates Awarded: 

• First Place: $500 
• Second Place: $200
• Third Place: $100
• Honorable Mention: $50

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 that it is hard to see  how individual people can make a difference. But people like you 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. And 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.  

What a simple solution!! There are many other simple solutions to environmental pollution just  waiting for someone to think of them. Put on your thinking cap and tell us how you would solve  ONE of the three environmental problems that are listed below: 

• Air Pollution 
• Water Pollution
• Garbage/Trash

Essay: In 500 words or less research how ONE of the above 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. 

• Student will use at least two relevant and reliable sources. (Sources must Peer reviewed) 
  • Suggested sources: Articles from Science Digest, Scientific American, Popular Science, New York Times 

Essay Details: 

• • 8th- 12th grade students in the greater Bridgeport area are eligible

• Please use Essay Contest Template

• • Do not include your name or school name on the essay follow template directions
• Essay length: 500 words maximum( not including title)
• Include a list of research sources, presented in MLA Format
  • Please cite sources in the body of your essay

• •  Document Format: Double spaced  
    • Times New Roman Font  
    • Font Size: 12,  
    • 1 inch margins top, bottom, left and right 
    • Single -sided (if hard copy is submitted) 
    • PDF Format (if submitted online) 

• Grading Rubric included