Courtesy photo
Coral Academy Middle School Robotics Team members celebrate their Innovator Award at the First Lego League Championship Tournament held at Pine Middle School in Reno on Jan. 27.

Submitted by Walker Lake Working Group

Coral Academy Middle School Robotics team won the Innovator Award at the First Nevada Lego League Championship Tournament in Reno on Jan. 27, for their concept to help conserve a fresh-water ecosystem at Walker Lake. The team of sixth- and seventh-graders from the Reno school won the award for their idea to collect dedicated water for Walker Lake through coalescing and condensation of evaporated water. The students began researching the project in August consulting with Walker Lake Working Group and the Desert Research Institute.

The idea earned the team Nevada’s nomination to the First Lego League’s Global Innovation Award competition this spring. The team will submit their idea for judging and a chance at winning a $20,000 grant to further their project.

Walker Lake Working Group Trustee Marlene Bunch of Hawthorne attended the competition in Reno and supplied the kids with t-shirts, calendars and “Save Walker Lake” magnets. The students handed out the magnets to some of the 500 people in attendance to help create awareness of lack of water that has collapsed the ecosystem at the lake in northwestern Nevada.