Lynn students win national contest, earn special visit

LYNN – Lynn Woods Elementary School third-graders learned you are never too young to make a difference in the world, and if you do, sometimes you get a really cool reward.Sixteen third-graders in Donna Whalen’s class took first place in the sixth annual “Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge,” and, as a result, won a visit from Discovery Education and Animal Planet’s Dave Salmoni, who brought some very special friends.”That’s right. They’re national winners,” said Lynn Woods Principal Ellen Fritz.The challenge required students across the country to identify environmental issues in their schools or communities, research them, devise a plan and make a change. Whalen said her students, who are all familiar with Lynn Woods, noticed that community members were dumping yard waste illegally at the entrance to the woods. They also noticed that there were invasive plants mixed in the yard waste and those weeds were beginning to show up in the urban forest.The kids researched the issue, spoke with Lynn Woods Ranger Dan Small, developed an action plan, took it to Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy and the City Council and, in the end, got signage installed warning residents that dumping yard waste is not allowed.”They did a great job, and they picked a good topic,” Small said. “It’s an issue, and it never gets any attention. They brought it some attention.”He said bittersweet, Japanese knotweed, tree of heaven and burning bush, to some degree, are the worst offenders, and once they take hold, they are hard to get rid of and can ruin the landscape.Whalen entered the project into the Siemens contest but told the kids that even if they didn’t win a prize, they already won because they made a difference. When the kids found out they won the national contest, “they were ecstatic,” she said.”They put a lot of time and effort into the project, and they learned a lot from it,” she said. “This was definitely exciting for us and the school.”The grand prize includes a $5,000 grant for the school that Whalen said they’ve yet to decide how it will be spent and a visit from Salmoni and Discovery Education, which was shared with the entire school.Salmoni, who made a name for himself with a documentary, “Into the Lion’s Den,” and currently hosts Discovery Channel’s “Rogue Nature” as well as “After the Attack and Into the Pride” on Animal Planet, is a large predator expert and a conservationist.He called the students’ project impressive.Salmoni told the kids he studied zoology and then became an animal trainer before turning toward conservation. He also brought out a few friends to get the kids excited about animals, he said.Salmoni introduced Stella, a skunk; Thorn, a porcupine; Cajun, a five-foot-or-so alligator; Tobias, an inquisitive kudamundi; Koda, an arctic fox; and Ty, a red-tail boa constrictor that was about six feet long.The animals were provided by Derek Small from Wildlife Encounters in Rochester, N.H., who helped Salmoni show them off to students.Salmoni stressed that while the animals all seem really fun and lovable, they are not pets nor should they be. He also stressed that if the students are true animal lovers, they should get involved.”You just have to figure out which one you really love then figure out what it needs,” he said.Salmoni said he first became interested in conservation as a kid when he learned that tigers were becoming threatened. Today there are only roughly 2,000 tigers left in the wild, he said.He told students to research the animal they love and find out ways they can help, whether it’s supporting a group that works with the animals or one day traveling to the country where the animal lives to help save them.Or they could simply keep up with the local conservation that they started.”If you like to go to the park or go to Lynn Woods, there are ways to help here, too,” he said.He urged the kids to use local and national parks or risk losing them.”I think you are the ones that will shape our planet’s future,” he said.S