The Place for Jersey City News
Log In / Register
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Jersey City Times
  • News
  • Food and Fun
    • Food And Drink
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Other Fun Stuff
  • Education
  • Business
  • Neighborhoods
    • Downtown
      • News
      • Guide
    • Heights
      • News
      • Guide
    • Journal Square
      • News
      • Guide
    • Bergen Lafayette
      • News
      • Guide
    • Greenville
      • News
      • Guide
    • Westside
      • News
      • Guide
  • Opinion
  • Columns
    • Eye Level
    • Mamarama
  • Obituaries
  • Event Calendar
  • Support our Mission
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
Three McNair Students Grab First Place in Statewide Clean Energy Design Contest

Three McNair Students Grab First Place in Statewide Clean Energy Design Contest

Ron Leir
November 6, 2021/in Education, header, Latest News, Narrate
by Ron Leir

A talented trio from McNair Academic High School in Jersey City have achieved recognition as the green giants of “sustainable community garden irrigation.”

Harsh Patel, Eshaan Sharma and Ankit Mithbavkar, all seniors at McNair, captured first place in the 2021 Green Ambassador Program sponsored by Solar Landscape and Sustainable Jersey City.

Solar Landscape is a leading New Jersey designer and operator of solar energy technology for the commercial, municipal, and nonprofit marketplace.

Sustainable Jersey City is a nonprofit network of individuals, government, and charitable organizations that sponsor various green initiatives to make Jersey City more ecologically sustainable. Their projects include developing rain gardens and community composting sites, inventorying the city’s trees, and conducting research on the many effects of the city’s diminishing tree canopy.

The two groups combined to award $20,000 in scholarships to 23 New Jersey high school students for developing compelling clean energy projects.

Students attended five online webinars hosted by Solar Landscape, then submitted videos outlining a concept for making an existing product more sustainable or for strengthening the sustainability efforts of a community.

McNair Irrigation Project“We actually started this project in our freshman year,” said Sharma, “because of our mutual interest in how urban irrigation systems are evolving.” Sharma is also an “ambassador” for Inspirit AI, a program sponsored by Stanford and MIT graduate students to teach middle and high school students artificial intelligence.

In a recorded presentation to the judges, the McNair representatives, all members of the Science Research Club at the school, outlined their approach to developing a system for irrigating a four-quadrant, 10-foot-by-10-foot plot of land.

Their working model consisted of eight interconnected pipes, each section measuring 5 feet in length, linked by four elbow joints and an 800-gallon submersible pump – all self-contained with no moving parts. Each pipe features holes to facilitate water flow and minimize water waste.

According to the students, their apparatus could support up to four different plant species and be assembled in five hours for just $209.

Initially, the students said, they’ll pitch their irrigation proposal to two middle schools in Ward F (Frank R. Conwell M.S. 4 and Academy 1 M.S.) and to several of the city’s community gardens (Ogden’s End in the Heights, Waldo Avenue gardens in Journal Square, and Brunswick Street gardens Downtown.

If they can create sustainable irrigation systems there, they would like to build larger-scale models for adoption by local municipal parks.

That sits very well with Debra Italiano, founder and president of Sustainable Jersey City. Italiano  lauded the winners for “the simplicity and thoroughness” of their irrigation system along with their “clear implementation plan and low-cost budget.”

Sharma and Mithbavkar plan to study computer science and machine learning after graduation. Patel plans to become a civil engineer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Jersey City Education
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
You might also like
New Private High School to Open Next Fall in Newport
McNair Academic High School Jersey City Moving to Wealth-Based Admissions at McNair and Infinity: A Student Reports
Jersey City Board of Education Special Meeting July 15 2021 Jersey City BOE Wrestles with McNair and Infinity Admissions
Child with face mask Here are the Exceptions to Governor Murphy’s School Mask Mandate
William L. Dickinson High School Jersey City Nine Candidates Vie for Three School Board Seats
Menstrual Products Fighting “Period Poverty,” Program to Provide Students with Menstrual Products
Dickinson High School Jersey City School Board Candidate Forum Goes Ahead without “Change for Children” Slate
NJCU Jersey City NJCU Faculty Look to Topple President
Jersey City, US
1:57 pm, July 3, 2022
86°F
broken clouds
Wind: 15 mph
Pressure: 1016 mb

Latest Articles

Forget the Whale
July 02, 2022 /

Rogue Waves July: Six Concert Picks in Jersey City

Raisa Nosova "Uprooted"
July 01, 2022 /

Muralist Raisa Nosova Raises a Distress call for Ukraine

Dickinson High School Jersey City 16x9
July 01, 2022 /

Former Dickinson High School Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault

NJCU
July 01, 2022 /

NJCU Acting President Kroll Issues a Statement on Social Media

United States Supreme Court
July 01, 2022 /

We Must Amend the New Jersey Constitution to Include a Right to Privacy

CONTACT US

    ADS/INFO

    For information on advertising opportunities, please contact - ads@jcitytimes.com

    For information on writing opportunities, please contact - info@jcitytimes.com

    Download our media kit here

    ABOUT US

    About Jersey City Times

    Contact Jersey City Times

    Social

    Archives

    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    Copyright © 2020 JCityTimes.com. All Rights Reserved - powered by Enfold WordPress Theme
    “What Remains” at Outlander Gallery Valerie Huhn Moishe's Moving Systems Former Executive Director of Mana Contemporary Indicted in Moishe’s Tax...
    Scroll to top