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Kids think green for design contest
McKinney: Students recognized for environmentally friendly house ideas in Parade of Homes event
12:00 AM CDT on Friday, June 2, 2006
McKINNEY – Their parents came for the luscious decorations, marble flooring and spacious outdoor living spaces. But their kids had more in mind than flat-screen televisions and fantastic media rooms at this year's annual Parade of Homes. These McKinney ISD students were there to accept awards for imagining the best environmentally friendly homes in the Green Dream Home Contest, a competition sponsored by Green Mountain Energy and the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas. The awards were presented Saturday, the opening day of the Home Builders Association home show. Through June 18, this year's 15th annual Parade of Homes at McKinney's Bluffs at Winding Creek allows visitors to tour five luxury homes – most are priced at $1 million or more. The Home Builders Association hosts the event as a way for builders to show off unique architecture, craftsmanship and new home aesthetics. Last year, the event sponsored a simple dream home contest. This year's "green" theme was added to challenge the students even more, said event spokesman Narciso Tovar. Kids were divided into grade categories. Those in the second-and third-grade division drew a two-dimensional drawing of their home; those in the fourth- and fifth-grade division had to create three-dimensional models. Participants also submitted written descriptions of their homes. "We couldn't wait for them to tap into their imaginations again," Mr. Tovar said. And tap they did – homes included windmills, rainforest themes and power systems that ran on tree sap. Kayla Hill, who won fourth place in the fourth- and fifth-grade division, said her idea came from the Lord of the Rings movies. Her domed house was made of flowers and featured furniture made of pinecones and tree twigs. "I made sure to include a sun roof so they could get plenty of sunlight," she said. All the home submissions benefited from the student's time and thought, said Jan Harres, art teacher at Wilmeth Elementary. Contest sponsors asked art teachers to encourage their students to participate and incorporate the contest into the classroom. Ms. Harres introduced the idea to her fourth- and fifth-grade students and allowed those interested to work on their contest submissions as an end-of-the-year project. Two of the top five students in the division came from her classes. "They worked really hard," she said. More than 100 submissions came from second-graders at McNeil Elementary, said art teacher Sona Knox. The project was incorporated into the students' curriculum as they studied plant life and other aspects of ecology. The top five places in the second- and third-grade divisions all went to McNeil students. "We exposed them to different mediums, and they just took off from it," Ms. Knox said. Joshua Candelario, from McNeil, won first place in the second- and third-grade division. His home, he said, would be powered by a combination of solar and rodent power – squirrels running on treadmills to generate electricity. "I heard it from cartoons and thought it was a cool idea," he said. E-mail epowell@dallasnews.com
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