As the 2025-26 school year comes to a close, we’re excited to announce the results for this year’s Conservation Crew Awards. For the first time, our People’s Choice Award was open to voting by the public.
Congratulations to all the winners on their innovative and impactful projects!
2026 Conservation Crew project winners:
Small Crew & People’s Choice Award: Dillworth-Glyndon-Felton (Glyndon)
Students at Dillworth-Glyndon-Felton spent the year building awareness about the importance of prairie ecosystems through creative outreach and hands-on restoration projects. They launched a poster campaign, website, YouTube page, and Instagram account to educate their community, while also raising funds during Earth Week by selling hand-painted flower pots and Black-Eyed Susans. In partnership with local residents, students planted pocket prairies throughout the community and created a prairie trail complete with an open house event to encourage community involvement and environmental education.
Medium Crew: Heritage ESTEM Magnet School (Saint Paul)
Heritage ESTEM students combined environmental stewardship, education, and global outreach in their projects this year. They harvested and prepared seeds for planting, organized litter cleanups, adopted local drains to keep waterways clean, and encouraged energy conservation throughout the school. Students also led recycling education efforts, conducted trash audits, and promoted environmentally friendly holiday habits through creative educational campaigns. In addition, they built a solar suitcase that was donated to a school or business in Samburu, Kenya, and collected reusable supplies from locker cleanout day to reduce waste and support future use.
Large Crew: Prairie Winds Middle School (Mankato)
Prairie Winds students focused on improving sustainability practices within their school and community through recycling education, prairie restoration, and service projects. They hosted “conservation stations” at school dances to teach proper recycling habits, introduced additional recycling bins throughout the school, and conducted trash audits to improve recycling accuracy. Students also participated in litter cleanups, collected pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House, created Earth Day educational materials, and supported prairie restoration efforts through planting, seed collection, and educational outreach at conferences.
Large Crew: Valley Middle School of STEM (Apple Valley)
Valley Middle School students completed a wide variety of environmental and community-focused initiatives throughout the year. They educated younger students about plastic pollution, electricity conservation, composting, and recycling through trivia activities and presentations, while also promoting food waste reduction in the cafeteria. Students created conservation-themed art projects, including sculptures and murals made from recycled materials, built butterfly and bee houses, and crafted dog toys for a local shelter using upcycled clothing. Their efforts also included campaigns focused on reducing pencil waste, encouraging battery and electronic recycling, and promoting thoughtful technology use.
People’s Choice Award: Achieve Language Academy (Saint Paul)
Achieve Academy students demonstrated a strong commitment to environmental awareness and community service through a range of creative and impactful projects. They collected over 1,000 pounds of flexible plastic for recycling and expanded access to environmental education by adding eco-themed books to the school library and reading to younger students. Students also conducted water and microplastic testing at a nearby lake, created an immersive ocean-themed educational display about plastic pollution, and developed a school garden with a bird feeder to support local wildlife. In addition, they raised funds for the Woodbury Animal Shelter after learning about increased animal surrenders due to ICE detentions.