On Jan. 7, Clark Magnet’s Environmental GIS team, the Kelp Huggers, won first place in the Lexus Eco challenge for their most recent marine biology project and were awarded with a $10,000 prize for their examination of marine debris and how it harms marine life. “The group recognized that marine debris is a huge issue that affects marine life,” said Environmental GIS teacher Dominique Evans-Bye.

The Kelp Huggers crowdsourced their project by creating the Instagram tag “#litterati” and encouraging people use the hashtag and to take pictures of debris they clear on the beach. Along with the Instagram hashtag, the group also completed fieldwork for their project, which consisted of going to beaches and personally cleaning the area using a radar to detect debris in the water near the shore.

“We had different experiments, boat trips and data analysis just to be able to submit the entry,” said senior Xochil Garcia. Garcia served as the project manager for the Kelp Huggers. “I’m very happy that the project turned out so well and all of our hard work paid off.”

The Kelp Huggers were also invited for the Lexus Eco Challenge “Final Challenge” for a potential $30,000 grand prize. “The dynamic for this team is amazing, so I’m sure they’ll continue to do well,” said Evans-Bye. This is the sixth win for Clark Magnet High school in the Lexus Eco Challenge, which Clark has participated in a total of eight times.