Green home design winner to represent NMI in Guam

Fifteen entries—10 from Kagman High School and five from Marianas High School—in the Green Dream Home design contest will be vying for the right to represent the CNMI in the 2016 Green Dream Home Competition to be held during the 7th Regional Conference on Island Sustainability next month.

This was according to MHS Cooperative Education and Career Technical Education Teacher Jeaniffer H. Cubangbang, one of the organizers of the 2016 Island-wide Science Technology Engineering Mathematics Fair to be held at Saipan Southern High School.

Cubangbang said KHS and MHS first held school-wide competitions for the Green Dream Home design. KHS chose the Top 10 designs while MHS will have five entries.

“Judges from contractor HBR International will then choose the most feasible and realistic design and the winner will be the entry in Guam’s competition. The designs are complete with blueprints, scale model, and the cost if you’re going to build it,” said Cubangbang.

Energy production or renewable energy systems, energy efficiency and independence from mechanical cooling and heating systems, home design, sustainable garden, landscape, water catchment systems, composting and recycling, and other ideas suitable for island communities are the components from the designs that the judges would focus on in the Guam competition.

Aside from the Green Home Design contest, 112 winning projects from all public and private schools in the elementary and middle and high schools of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota will also be competing for honors in the annual STEM Fair.

The best three projects in each cluster will be given honors in the awards ceremony at 12:45pm. Kinder to second grade form Cluster 1, Cluster 2 is for grades three to five, grades six to eight are in Cluster 3, while grades nine to 12 are in Cluster 4. The first placers will then represent the CNMI in the 38th Annual Guam Islandwide STEM Fair in May at the University of Guam.

Registration and set up for the STEM Fair is set from 4pm to 6pm. Judging begins at 9am and the exhibit opens at 11:15am for the community where they get the chance to vote for the Viewers Choice award.

MHS’ Blue Marianas Productions, a Junior Achievement Company, is providing the manpower and voting booth. The Viewers Choice will receive a certificate, gold medal, and $50 worth of prizes.

Student scientists from the Short-Term Research Experience for Underrepresented Persons and members of two-time national winning STEM Fair ambassadors and Real World Design Challenge champions, Aeronautical Dolphins, will also grace the event.

Organizers are also encouraging to use the hashtag #pssSTEM when using your social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.