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White House, EPA invite Espensen to D.C.
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · August 28, 2014
The White House and the Environmental Protection Agency named West Branch junior Linzee Espensen and her team among 60 students making “outstanding contributions … on some of the most pressing issues facing our nation.”
The EPA in May recognized the Iowa City-area team for its project to divert organic waste from schools and restaurants toward composting operations rather than landfills in an effort to reduce methane production.
The Zero Waste Project won a four-state regional award for its work then, and learned in mid to late July they had been invited to the White House by the White House Council on Environmental Quality and EPA.
“It was a very big honor for me and the team,” Espensen said. “Not a lot of people get to go to the White House. A presidential invitation is very special.”
Espensen was one of the founding members of the Zero Waste Project team in 2012, and other students from Iowa City and Fairfield now carry it on.
“This is a recognition of a lot of work,” Espensen said.
She said she had no idea the two-year-old project would advance so far in the Presidential Environmental Youth Award contest.
“Definitely not,” she said. “I always hoped to see some recognition, but I definitely never expected it to go that far.”
The team was led by former West Branch Middle School science teacher Hector Ibarra, who said the team was prohibited from telling anyone about the honor until after the trip to Washington D.C.
Other members of the team include Ethan Trepka, Michael Holt, Lillianne A. Brown (formerly of West Branch), Pranav Krishnamurthy, Daniel Burgess, Joey Titus, Andrew Burgess, Eleanor Mildenstein, Michael Berg, Max Otoadese and Shawn Thacker.
“These awards recognize the outstanding contributions of student leaders and exceptional teachers on some of the most pressing issues facing our nation, including combating climate change and instituting sustainability practices,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in a statement. “Environmental education encourages academic achievement, especially in the sciences, and develops the next generation of leaders in environmental stewardship.”
Espensen said McCarthy’s comments encouraged the young scientists by noting their help toward finding solutions and helping the environment.
“To deal with immense challenges like climate change, we need a generation of leaders who don’t back away from complex environmental problems, and who have the skills to solve them,” Acting Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality Mike Boots said in a press release. “Across the country, environmental education is helping develop that generation of leaders, and the students and teachers being recognized today are remarkable examples of this kind of education at its best.”
The students and teachers who attended also participated in a White House Office of Science and Technology Policy workshop where they discussed climate and best practices in the field of climate education, read a statement.
Other winners in the PEYA contest came from Washington, Oklahoma, North Carolina and New Hampshire.
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