APPLE VALLEY – Students from Cottage Grove Middle School have been awarded top honors at the 2024-25 ZOOMS STEM Design Challenge, presented by Flint Hills Resources. The Minnesota Zoo’s …
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APPLE VALLEY – Students from Cottage Grove Middle School have been awarded top honors at the 2024-25 ZOOMS STEM Design Challenge, presented by Flint Hills Resources. The Minnesota Zoo’s award-winning program is a yearlong project that challenges elementary, middle and high school students from across Minnesota and beyond to develop solutions for real zoo-based scenarios.
In this year’s program, more than 4,300 students were challenged to engineer innovative enrichments or exhibit designs for the Minnesota Zoo’s critically endangered white-cheeked gibbons. Only 121 projects out of 1,300 were selected to advance to the exhibition, where zoo staff and volunteer judges from Flint Hills Resources reviewed the projects and presented awards to the winning students. The top three projects at the elementary, middle and high school levels were awarded at the exhibition during the week of March 3. Student teams won prizes for the conservation, innovation, teamwork and zookeeper categories.
“This award is the culmination of these students and teachers’ dedication, teamwork and excellence,” said John Frawley, director of the Minnesota Zoo and president of the Minnesota Zoo Foundation. “The Minnesota Zoo is proud to partner with Flint Hills Resources on this award-winning program. Year after year, we’re inspired by the creativity and care shown by students for the animals, habitats and people of the Zoo.”
This year, students were challenged to engineer innovative exhibit enrichments or exhibit designs for the Minnesota Zoo’s critically endangered white-cheeked gibbons. Students were evaluated on their research skills, uniqueness of ideas, plans for implementing the solution and overall presentation.
“The Minnesota Zoo is the perfect place for students to grow and demonstrate their problem-solving skills and learn that STEM concepts are all around us,” said Heather Rein, director of community affairs at Flint Hills Resources. “We’re thrilled to be able to watch this love of STEM grow in such a special setting. This program is truly unique, and we’re thankful to the students, teachers and partners at the Minnesota Zoo who make this possible.”
The ZOOMS STEM Design Challenge is made possible by a partnership dating back to 1989 between the Minnesota Zoo and Flint Hills Resources. Since its inception in 2014, teachers from 492 schools across 12 states have helped students produce more than 10,000 projects for animals at the Minnesota Zoo. Learn more about the program by watching this short video.
About the Minnesota Zoo
The Minnesota Zoo is a year-round destination providing a window into the natural world. With hundreds of species of animals, worldwide conservation efforts, and acres of scenic beauty, the Zoo is a resource to connect people, animals and the natural world to save wildlife. For more information visit mnzoo.org. The Minnesota Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and an institutional member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).
About Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend refinery
The Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend refinery produces transportation fuels used throughout the Midwest, including most of Minnesota’s gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, as well as other products people rely on such as propane and asphalt. Located 17 miles southeast of Minneapolis, Pine Bend has a refining capacity of 375,000 barrels per day and is among the most efficient and safest oil refineries in the country. Flint Hills Resources directly and indirectly supports more than 4,000 Minnesota jobs and has invested nearly $1.7 billion in upgrades and improvements to its Minnesota facilities since 2010. With 1,000 full-time employees, the Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend refinery is one of the largest employers in Dakota County. More information about the Pine Bend refinery is available at PineBendRefinery.com.
