When Victoria Granado left middle school, she thought she had completed her last science fair project.
Yet, the Great Oak High School senior was standing in front of classmates Friday, poster board on display, talking about hazardous waste.
This wasn't just any science project. Victoria and other students in the Advanced Placement environmental science class are participating in the Edison Challenge, a competition for students centered around environmental issues related to energy use or conservation.
The 34 students in the class were split into six teams, which each spent about two months working on projects related to conservation of water and ocean resources; disposal of electronic waste and household hazardous waste; and electrical generation through water power and kinetic energy.
As part of the competition, which was created by Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, and the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, students in grades 6 to 12 had to develop and teach a lesson plan, research a proposal, do community outreach and lead a presentation.
Granado said she didn't know much about hazardous waste when she started the project, but she's learned.
"Don't dump things down drains and don't throw away stuff like light bulbs and batteries," she said. "There are a lot of things we shouldn't throw away that we do."
Senior Evan Cast, 17, helped create a prototype version of a turbine that can be put inside water pipes in buildings to help produce power.
His group's theory is that anytime water moves through the pipes, be it from the shower, washing machine or flushing a toilet, energy will be generated that can be used in other places.
"The challenge was how to make it small and if we could waterproof it," Cast said.
Teacher Carrie Burdick-Rutz said the project was the perfect mixture of the research and community service projects she normally assigns to her class each spring.
She said hands-on projects teach students so much more than what they can learn from textbooks.
"They instantly get into it," Burdick-Rutz said. "There's so much detail. They learn it so much better because they have to teach it. They have to reach out to the community, and they are competing, so it raises the bar."
Still, it was a tough sell to students at first, Burdick-Rutz said.
"We were not enthused about it, until the very end," Granado said. "Last night, I was working on the project and thought 'This is kind of cool.'"
There is no cost to the school to compete. The Temecula campus was the only Southwest County school to participate, according to organizers. The contest was open to any school in Southern California Edison's service area.
Projects are due by Monday and judging and interviews with finalists will be conducted from March 23 to 30.
The winning team will receive a weeklong trip to the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island. Second prize is a four-day field study expedition to Edison's Big Creek Hydroelectric facility in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Teachers of the finalists' teams will receive a cash prize to be used for classroom supplies or professional development.
Call staff writer Craig Shultz at 951-676-4315, ext. 2625.
