Two Minuteman High School students earn gold medal for SkillsUSA environmental project in Wellesley

By Judy Bass

Juniors Caitlin Monagle, of Wellesley, and McKenzie Hartman, of Sudbury, students in the Environmental Technology program at Minuteman High School in Lexington, recently put their education into action by installing decals onto catch basins that direct storm water into Morse’s Pond in Wellesley.

The students completed the project in cooperation with the Department of Public Works in Wellesley as part of their Community Action project for SkillsUSA.

As a result of their efforts, the students were awarded the gold medal at the Massachusetts SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference held in Marlboro in May 2015. SkillsUSA allows students in career and technical education to compete in a host of rigorous technical and leadership competitions.

The purpose of the SkillsUSA Community Action competition is to evaluate contestants’ ability to develop, execute, document, and present a project completed in their community or school community which provides a benefit or learning experience to the community or school.

The project involved marking catch basins that drain to Morse’s Pond with decals to alert residents not to dump paints, trash and other pollutants into the drains that could harm the pond’s ecosystem or end up in a drinking water supply.

Caitlin and McKenzie worked closely with George Saraceno, senior engineer in Wellesley’s Department of Public Works, who is coordinating a town-wide effort to educate the public about the importance of storm water management as it relates to human health and the environment.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), storm drain marking is one of the “best management practices” used to help stop the illegal dumping of trash and used materials, and “public education” is the most important method of implementing such programs.

As state gold medalists, Caitlin and McKenzie will join other gold medalists representing Team Massachusetts at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Ky., from June 22 to June 27, 2015.

Minuteman is an award-winning regional high school that gives its graduates a competitive edge in the new global economy by providing them with a high-quality career and technical education, coupled with a rigorous grounding in mathematics, English, science, and social studies. At Minuteman, students can currently major in 19 career and technical education programs at the same time they take challenging academic courses, similar to those in traditional academic high schools.