2021 High School Winners

Jensen Coonradt is in 9^th grade at Oswego East High school. She lives in Aurora, Illinois and has lived there all of her life. Jensen is a previous World of 7 billion student contest winner. Last year, she won 2^nd place in the Middle School competition for her video entitled “Ruminant Livestock and Climate Change” for the topic, Improving Climate Resiliency. Jensen is passionate about solving environmental issues and likes to educate people about the environment through video. “I do robotics as well, and I like to merge my interests,” she adds. Jensen was inspired to submit a video for the contest a second time because of her passion to stop Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). She shared that “they’re not environmentally friendly and they are unethical for the animals involved.” She also suggested that lab-grown meat is a more sustainable solution to CAFOs, a conclusion she drew from her in-depth research for the contest.

Jensen was not aware of population and its impacts prior to creating her video but enjoyed exploring the topic and solutions to counteract CAFOs with lab-grown meat. As a previous winner, Jensen has experience with filmmaking, but this year, she admitted that “this was the first time I’ve animated a graph before.” She enjoys creating animations and using what she learns to educate others on issues affecting the population. Jensen is a notable award winner. Currently, she is a finalist for the “Samsung Solve for Tomorrow” contest, a STEM contest that challenges students in grades 6-12 to show how STEM can be applied to help improve their communities. Jensen “developed a backpack for people that uses neuroplasticity which helps people with vision limitation.” She advises future contest participants to “never give up and try to talk about something new to people so they can find new ways to help the environment.” For next year’s contest, Jensen recommends a topic regarding cleaner electricity. She would like to see more people gain access to electricity globally and in a more sustainable way for the planet that does not include using fossil fuels. Jensen will use her prize money to continue to develop her backpack, an invention that is helping vision-impaired kids.

In her spare time, Jensen works at a non-profit she founded “that uses robotics to improve the water quality of lakes and ponds.” She is also on a robotics team and they are finalists in an innovation project contest. Her inspiration is her middle school science teacher, Ms. Truemper, who introduced her to the World of 7 Billion contest and taught her the importance of hard work and that anything is possible.