Mission Senior Secondary (MSS) took second and third place at the sixth annual Environmental Mind Grind competition last week.
The Abbotsford Mission Recycling Program hosted the event at Sevenoaks Shopping Centre.
Mission won a total of $750. They will use their prize money towards installing solar panels in their school.
MSS has used their past winnings to purchase a water bottle refill station.
The Greenicanes team from Rick Hansen Secondary in Abbotsford finished in first place, winning $1,500 to go towards an environmental initiative at their school.
As the team members will be graduating this year, the Greenicanes plan to use some of the prize money to plant a grad tree at their school and have yet to decide what they will do with the remaining funds.
The prize money was donated by FortisBC.
Teams from Rick Hansen Secondary, W. J. Mouat Secondary, and Mission Senior Secondary competed against each other in an academic trivia-based competition with a focus on environmental awareness.
“You could tell that the students were taking this seriously,” said Mallory Palliyaguru, the education coordinator at Abbotsford Mission Recycling Program.
“Oftentimes, we didn’t even have to finish a question before they knew the answer.”
Ian Newton, the W. J. Mouat teacher sponsor, said his team is already looking forward to next year.
“The Environmental Mind Grind was a fantastic event that was very well-organized and presented as students learn and raise awareness on environmental conditions affecting us all.”
The event is put on annually by Abbotsford Mission Recycling, a program of Abbotsford Community Services.
The program provides recycling services in partnership with the District of Mission and the City of Abbotsford. They offer an extensive public awareness program, which includes school and community education.
