Student project provides water purification to Philippines families

A team of high school students is sending water purification devices to help about 300 people in the Philippines as the result of a class project.

The five students from Mount Vernon Presbyterian School in Sandy Springs raised $5,625 to fund the effort, which will provide “life straws” that filter out water-borne bacteria and viruses.

Melanie Lane, a junior, said the students chose the life straw idea as part of a yearly capstone project required of high schoolers. The project included transdisciplinary education on land and water use across several subject areas, including science, math and English.

“I learned that even in high school you could make a difference,” Lane said. “I’m ultimately helping over 50 families. If I can do something like this in high school, there will be so many more opportunities when I grow up.”

The students presented their project Thursday during the school’s Transdisciplinary Capstone Project Expo, which featured presentations from teams across the high school.

They raised money through a crowd-funding website called Indiegogo, and they worked with nonprofit humanitarian relief organization International Relief & Development, which will distribute the life straws this summer.