Education / Awards

The Cleveland Section of SPE’s Education/Students Committee is hoping to have as good a session in 21-22 as we did last session. Despite the steep challenges that came with the COVID pandemic, including social distancing requirements and
limits on the usual activities, we were able to still help support the industry with our efforts to promote responsible plastics use, help propel young graduates into the polymers world, and show the evolving minds of our community youth the  wonders and capabilities of plastics.

We are happy to announce the winners of the SPE Cleveland Section prizes for his year’s Northeast Ohio Science and Engineering Fair (NEOSEF). As with last year, the projects were presented in a digital format and submitted for judges to review. The students were rated on if their projects were polymers or plastics oriented, along with being thorough and interesting with respect to each age group. This year we did not rate 1st-3rd place, but instead chose to award the top 3 projects with $100 each.  The event promotes exploration and inspires confidence in the students while they gain valuable exposure to the world of science. We continue to support this event as a critical activity in promoting the future of STEM fields and particularly the advancement of plastics. This year’s winners included projects on the ideas to reduce ocean plastics, repurposing of used PVC medical gloves, ideas for bio-derived plastic grocery bags. We hope to have the winners attend this year’s end of year banquet to meet members, and discuss their projects.

Ron Raleigh
Education Chairman