REDMOND, Wash. — A group of kids is inspiring their peers to care about the plight of the Southern Resident killer whales because they believe kids can do a lot to make things better.
"We want to teach kids about saving the Southern Resident killer whales so when they're older, they can also educate many more people and then more people will become aware and want to help save them," said Anushka Halepet.
The third graders are students at Ella Baker Elementary in Redmond and are participating in the Destination Imagination program for the North Sound. Their team name is "Shooting Stars," and their project name is "Saving Southern Resident Orcas."
“There are many problems that people are aware of but not many people are aware of saving the Southern Resident orcas and not many people know about it,” said Mahnya Balakrishna.
Destination Imagination is a program that seeks to "inspire and equip participants to achieve anything they can imagine in life," according to the website. Their mission statement is: "To engage participants in project-based challenges that are designed to build confidence and develop extraordinary creativity, critical thinking, communication, and teamwork skills."
The students have spent months learning about the challenges facing the Southern Residents like lack of prey, pollution, and noise.
“We’ve been trying to learn a lot. We met with one of the people from Governor Jay Inslee’s Task Force. Her name was Laura Blackmore. We talked with her and learned a lot. We also went to CG Farms and learned a lot about compost filter,” said Aniruddh Shastri.
“Stormwater runoff is a big issue because when it rains, it collects all the pollutants and pollutes the Puget Sound of Washington,” said Aditya Bhide.
One of the kids even developed a stormwater gutter filter.
“It brings all the dirty water from the roof into this side. Then, inside the bucket, it gets filtered by two-thirds sand and one-third compost. Finally, it comes out of this side as nice and clean water,” explained Keshav Raghunathan.
The third graders have been presenting to their schoolmates as well as created a play.
“Our play is about the Southern Resident orcas, what will happen if we don’t help them,” said Anusha Chintalpati.
“My favorite part was presenting to the other kids in our school,” said Sanika Deshpande.
The kids plan to continue presenting to their peers and perhaps even corporations.
"We are glad that the kids chose a "Service Learning" project taking up the cause of Southern Resident orcas and their declining population, demonstrating a key trait - empathy - and doing community outreach to build awareness of the issue, educating their peer groups about the issue and also providing a solution - like building a prototype of a gutter filter to reduce pollutants in stormwater drains and thereby creating an impact in the community. I am super excited for the team and the hard work they have put in on this project. Their efforts just represent a bright and hopeful future for the orcas and for all of us!" said Team Manager Anand Balakrishnan.