CONROE, TX – August 31, 2016 – It was standing room only Sunday at the Winner Announcement portion of the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District’s 2016 Minecraft Water Challenge. The event, hosted by the Microsoft Store in The Woodlands Mall, served as a platform to publically celebrate the many hours of hard work invested by the contestants.
The educationally-focused contest, an inaugural undertaking by LSGCD, was unveiled over the summer and invited Montgomery County area students, from 1st through 12th grade, to research their respective local water resources and, through a series of objectives, depict these within the video game, Minecraft, via an uploaded YouTube video.
“Entries came in from every school district in the county, several private schools and home schools, too.” said James Ridgway, Jr., LSGCD education / public awareness coordinator. “We are just blown away by what these students accomplished.”
Ridgway said the time and effort students put into their respective submissions was very evident in the end product.
“I think it’s also important to acknowledge the many parents who got involved in this contest as well. Not everyone can answer the question—where does my water come from?” Ridgway said. “But these families definitely can,
“We also really appreciate our four volunteer judges. They spent a lot of time watching and evaluating the entries, and there were a lot of good ones, so narrowing it down to the top three in each category was no easy task.”
The judges included: Dr. Jaime A. Bone, Conroe ISD admin coordinator/human resources; Stephen Green, world geography/speech teacher; Jennifer L. Mitchell, Conroe ISD professional systems support analyst; and Cale Reneau, marketing/communication manager at The Club at Carlton Woods.
The winners in the Elementary School group include: First-place winner Zander Staines, home school, second-place winner Seb Woodhead, David Elementary; and third-place winner Christopher Holmes, Kaufman Elementary.
The winners in the Jr. High School group include: First-place winner Daniel Stonecipher, McCullough Jr. High, second-place winner Isabella Woodhead, Collins Intermediate; and third-place winner Cole Rigsby, McCullough Jr. High.
The winners in the High School group include: First-place winner Jordan Schmid, Montgomery High School, second-place winner Alex Bradshaw, Splendora High School; and third-place winner Houston Bailey, Magnolia High School.
“Water is a precious resource,” Ridgway said. “And I think it’s often the case that when we learn and understand more about a subject, we tend to appreciate and respect it more—and waste it less.”
For more information on the 2016 Minecraft Water Challenge, or to learn about future iterations of the contest, visit http://lonestargcd.org/minecraft-water-challenge or email jridgway@LoneStarGCD.org.
