Three members of Santa Monica High School’s environmental science eco-action group, Team Marine, were awarded first place Saturday night in the LA County Science Fair in the senior division of Environmental Management.
Angelina Hwang, Edie Cote, and Ivan Morales’ project examined the effects of the Santa Monica plastic bag ban on consumer bag choice by comparing pre-ban with post-ban data.
Over the two year study, the students visually estimated the bag type, age, and gender of more than 50,400 people exiting five local grocery stores.
The students now advance to the state competition, held at the California Science Center April 15-16, and will later present their data at the AltBuild Expo at the Santa Monica Convention Center May 11.
Team Marine has also recently submitted some of their 2012-13 environmental science and advocacy projects to the Bag It Plastic Free School Contest, a competition that encourages elementary, middle, and high school students to reduce single-use plastics on campus.
A creative summary video of Team Marine’s work can be viewed here.
