Mexican students made it to the final of global environmental contest

Ana Paula Villalvazo and Víctor Arvizu, students from PrepaTec North Sonora, are runners-up in the National Geographic Slingshot Challenge contest.

The Slingshot Challenge is a National Geographic contest for young people between the ages of 13 and 18 who have an interest in caring for the environment.

Ana Paula and Víctor reached the final of the contest with their Clean Rivers Mexico project, which consists of a technological system to monitor river water quality.

What is Clean Rivers Mexico?

It’s a system in the form of a pole with sensors at the top, which is positioned on one side of a river.

The information collected allows users to assess water quality in real time.

The PrepaTec students want to use this system to detect the presence of heavy metals or compounds that are harmful to health, such as lead, arsenic, and cadmium.

This idea was inspired by an ecological disaster in which toxic waste was dumped into the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers in 2014, affecting the health of thousands of people in Sonora.

Leaving their mark on Sonora

Only 15 projects were chosen from the 15,000 students who registered for the competition; Clean Rivers Mexico was one of these.

Ana Paula and Víctor were runners-up in Slingshot Challenge 2023. Other participants in the contest came from countries like Nigeria, the United States, Pakistan, and Mexico.

The next step for the two students is setting up Leaders for Sonora, an environmental organization which more people from the state can join.

Ana Paula invites all young people to leave a mark on their community.

“It’s very gratifying for young people like us to have been recognized for undertaking ecological initiatives here in our country,” adds Ana Paula Villalvazo.

“It’s very gratifying for young people like us to have been recognized for undertaking ecological initiatives.” - Ana Villalvazo.

Slingshot Challenge

The Slingshot Challenge is a National Geographic contest which was launched in October 2022 with the aim of empowering young people around the world to take action for the planet.

There are five different categories for initiatives: clean the air, restore the ocean, protect nature, reduce waste, and address climate change.

The winning teams receive a cash prize of 10,000 dollars and runner-up teams receive 1,000 dollars.

This year, 1,800 teams from more than 80 different countries participated.

“Together, we can build a better world,” concludes Víctor.

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