By imagining ways to transition to alternative energy sources tomorrow, students from three VPS schools have won prizes today. Teams from Vancouver iTech Preparatory, Hudson’s Bay High School and Skyview High School went head to head with nearly 120 teams from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana in the eighth annual Imagine Tomorrow competition at Washington State University in Pullman.

Kassie Wielenbeck, Cedric Hitzeman, Brittney Hauff and teacher Steve Lorenz of Hudson’s Bay High School won second place in the Behavior Challenge. Each student received a $300 prize, and the school also received $1,500. Their adviser is Steve Lorenz.

Skyview High School seniors Skyler Lemmon, Akhil Mulpuru and Nolan Kiem received a special award for having the best project by a newly participating school from Congressional District 3. The trio also captured third place in the Biofuels Challenge for their project “Making Biofuels from Algae.” The students each won a total of $300 and earned the Skyview Science, Math and Technology magnet a total of $1,500.

Also participating in the competition were Skyview juniors John Bower, Patrick Gaines, Brandon San and Anthony Taylor, who in six weeks fast-tracked an entirely new project called “Renewable Wind Energy for Skyview High School.”

The Skyview advisers are Colleen McKinney, Angela Fojtik and Phil Hays.

Students representing Vancouver iTech Preparatory at Imagine Tomorrow included Jason Harper, Calleese Henderson, Emily Torjusen, Dylan Bartos, Cobalt Sjögren, Zachary Sandoval, Matthew Bade, Damion McLoone, Carlos Mercado and Darlene Gray. Adelaine Nielson, Shayla Asher and Xacea Bishop also contributed to team projects but did not travel to Pullman for the competition.

The iTech Giving Green team won the Innovative Award for their project “Giving Green: Power Via Trees.” Team members are Abigail Hughes, Kyle Rule, Cody Smith, Matthew Robinson and Jared Morales.

Teacher Tom Wolverton advises the iTech competitors. Students also worked with iTech teacher Timothy Larsen to complete their projects.