Both Anna Swanson and her partner Emma Hutchinson were thrilled and surprised that their English mid term had won them 7th place in the Caring for Our Watersheds proposal writing contest.

The two freshman began their Bird Box Project aiming for an A in their English class, but the project was then entered into the the Caring for Our Watersheds proposal writing contest.

Soon after that the team had to present their project in front of a panel of judges. “It was nerve racking,” said freshman Anna Swanson, “but then I realized that most people in the top 10 had to present their projects alone as well.”

Her partner was unable to attend the final presentation but Swanson was happy to do it.

Placing 7th out of 460 people won them $450 and it also won our school $450.

The duo’s project were bird boxes around Arden Park.

“It connected the community to it as well as having families organize it and collect their own information from it,” said Swanson.

Swanson’s proposal was to build nesting boxes for birds that have lost their natural habits due to the removal of old trees. The project engages families in neighborhoods to take care of the boxes so they can constantly have the ability to provided birds much needed nests.

The Caring for Our Watersheds proposal writing contest is something where high school students have the ability to research environmental problems in there local watershed. They would also have to come up with a realistic solution to the problem they have researched.

The Caring for Our Watersheds program encourages students to become creative within their communities and also rewards them.

The winner of the fun competition is awarded $1,000 for themselves along with $1,000 for the school in which they attend. Every student that enters the contest is eligible to win funding for their project.

Students that are included in the top ten proposals will move on to the next level. After moving on the students will then present their proposals in front of a panel of community judges. The contest has $27,000 worth of awards given out to students and their corresponding schools.

The Caring for Our Watersheds writing proposal allows students in the Sacramento area to research environmental problems in the community and to find logical solutions.

The program has students explore new things within their communities along with opportunities to help communities grow. By creating something that involves communities in ties people together and will make that community stronger. Students who developed ideas that will not only help local watersheds but will bring communities closer together will have higher chances of success in the competition.

Swanson and Hutchinson developed a strong idea that will not only help local watersheds but will bring the community together and will make it stronger.

Although there were over 400 students who gave proposals Anna Swanson gave one of the proposals that caught the judges eyes.