First Energy donates $12K to boost Mars Challenge
MARS — The Mars New Year committee received a financial boost this week.
First Energy Corp. donated $12,000 to go toward awards at Meet the Mars Challenge. Officials presented the check at Thursday's Mars New Year Committee meeting at the Mars Public Library.
Meet the Mars Challenge will be held in conjunction with the Mars New Year celebration, slated May 31 to June 2, in the borough.
According to its website, the challenge “invites second through eighth graders to identify a problem, challenge, or need that our earthling pioneers of the Next Great Frontier, Planet Mars, will face in their new settlement and try to solve it.”
Students compete in a variety of categories, including mechanical, agricultural, relationship and survival.
Shelly Watson, Meet the Mars Challenge chairman, praised First Energy representative Robi Lombardo for the company's generosity in supporting the challenge and the students involved in it.
”You're propelling these students and giving them the opportunity to go that much farther,” Watson said.
“We really try to be there for everybody,” Lombardo said.
The Mars New Year is celebrated in the borough every 687 days, which amounts to one year on Mars. This year, the Martian new year fell March 23. The next one will be Feb. 7, 2021.
