The students at the Miami Youth Academy wrote these stories for their newspaper Titan Tribune, a collaboration by the facility, Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Exchange for Change, a Miami-based non-profit group that supports writing programs in youth commitment and adult correctional facilities. Students work on the paper in a journalism class taught by a retired journalism teacher. The writers are identified by their initials to protect their identities.
By S.G., student at Miami Youth Academy
Mr. Jeffrey Rudd, our science teacher, organized the students to compete in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition. Funded by Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation, the $100-million competition invited innovators and teams from around the globe to demonstrate solutions that can pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or ocean.
Below is a one-on-one interview with Mr. Rudd.
Q: What solutions did the students come up with for the project?
Mr. Rudd: The students came up with a lot of great ideas, like edible carbon dioxide and a giant carbon-dioxide vacuum cleaner to suck it out of the air. They even came up with making carbon dioxide into a fuel source, but after research they figured out we don’t yet have the resources to do that.
Q: Why did you get the students involved?
Mr. Rudd: I think the project focuses on a very important subject to solve in today’s society and for our future. We all have a connection to the world we live in.
Q: Why did you receive a plaque?
Mr. Rudd: It’s an award for participating in the worldwide solution for carbon dioxide.
Q: Do you feel your class could win?
Mr. Rudd: It’s possible, but it will be challenging since our students are competing against universities and other high schools around the world. Even if they don’t win, they’ll learn a lot.
Q: Do you have another project coming up?
Mr. Rudd: At the moment no, but we would love to get involved in another one. In the past, we had an agricultural project where the students planted lots of vegetables and flowers.