Thanks to a competition spearheaded by WSU faculty, at least a portion of Washington state’s high school math and science teachers won’t have to answer the age-old gripe – “When am I ever going to use this?” Students from high schools across Washington state swarmed Bohler Gym on Saturday for the Imagine Tomorrow competition, presenting their ideas about alternative energy before judges from WSU faculty and external corporate sponsors.

To call the competition a science fair wouldn’t do it justice, said David Bahr, an associate professor with WSU’s School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and a coordinator of the event. Students were allowed to approach the problems surrounding alternative energy from a variety of academic disciplines. Bahr said there was a technical leg of the competition, but students were also allowed to look at design and behavioral aspects from a multidisciplinary perspective.

The grand prize was awarded to a group from the Tacoma School of the Arts, who designed a program for mentoring middle school students about energy and climate issues. Each member of the group took home a check for $5,000, and their school received a $5,000 check as well.

“This concept of sustainability and energy is by far one of the biggest challenges faced by our country,” said Grant Norton, co-chair of the event and professor and associate dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture. “One of the things we can do is get people involved in that challenge at the high school level.” Increasing the public’s literacy on energy issues was also a goal for Imagine Tomorrow, said Craig D. Parks, a WSU Psychology professor and organizer of the event. The event was designed to challenge students to become informed about energy issues in hopes this knowledge would carry over once they become the nation’s future policy makers, inventors and entrepreneurs, Parks said.

The thousands of dollars in prize money was donated from a number of the region’s leading industries, including Boeing, Bank of America and Weyerhaeuser.

Ralph Rise, a faculty adviser from last year’s grand prize-winning Lake Roosevelt High School, said the winnings helped grow this year’s Imagine Tomorrow project into an after- school program, which kept students out of trouble.

“It gives the kids recognition for their talents and helps them to learn things beyond the textbook,” he said.

Bahr said there were many times when he asked participants in the 2008 event if they were planning on going to college. Many answered that they weren’t – until they came to Imagine Tomorrow, he said.

“The students get to have the expenses-paid experience of coming to Pullman and have a great time on campus,” Norton said. “That’s part of the hope, that of these 400 students, some will end up as Cougs.” Norton said he hopes the Imagine Tomorrow competition will continue at WSU. “Our plan is that this will continue to grow and grow over the next several years – always (with the goal) of getting people thinking about energy as early as possible,” he said.