A team of students from Wolmer's Girls School in Kingston, topped the list of candidates in a worldwide environment project, My Community our Earth (MyCOE).
The project entitled: 'Giving Life to Ruins', attained the highest score from a field of over 200 competing project entries from around the world.
It was scheduled to coincide with presentations from world leaders at the World Summit on Sustainable Development which will commence on August 26th in Johannesburg, South Africa, and run until September 7th, 2002.
The My Community our Earth (MyCOE) exhibition is to be a centre-piece of the conference.
According to a release from the organisers, "The vision of ... MyCOE is to build a geographically literate generation able to use this knowledge in their everyday lives to bring about true sustainable development."
MyCOE sponsors include ESRI, the United Nations Environ-mental Programme (UNEP), USAID, IADB, and National Geographic Society among others.
The MyCOE exhibit, located in the specially created "Ubuntu Village" will showcase the best student projects that have been conducted all over the world in 2002 which involve students looking geographically at an issue of sustainability, such as freshwater supply, biodiversity, urbanisation, etc. in their community and suggesting solutions for the future.
Wolmer's Girls is said to have been one of the earliest participants in the Jamaica GIS in Schools Initiative sponsored by the Government of Jamaica and ESRI.
Project teams are limited to high school and university students. The project presented by the Jamaican students received the highest marks from two panels of esteemed evaluators, including sustainable development experts, geographers, and GIS professionals from the World Bank, the United Nations, National Geogra-phic Society, the International Geographical Union, US Department of Agriculture, Inter-American Development Bank and other institutions.
Wolmer's Girls High School was the sole Jamaican and Caribbean entry.
