Skyview Students Pitch Squad Cameras, Compost Piles and More

students took their ideas on how to improve the Oakdale Police Department, their school and the nation to the Minnesota State Capitol Wednesday as part of the Project Citizen program.

Groups of students worked together to research public policy issues of their choice—like homelessness, exotic pets or police squad car cameras—and then presented their projects before judges at the Capitol.

One team's members, Donya Foster, Tommie Harris and Chris Graves Jr., said they want to see video cameras installed in all of Oakdale’s police squad cars to prevent police misconduct, but also to protect police officers. To study the issue, the group talked with an Oakdale officer who told them that none of the cars have cameras, Harris said.

The team went so far as to identify sources of grant money the police department could go after to fund cameras.

“We did this so the citizens could feel more comfortable and also for the safety of officers,” Harris said.

Another group tackled an issue right at their own school—food waste in the cafeteria.

About 18 barrels a day of food waste gets tossed into the garbage at Skyview Middle School said team member Jocie Cortilet.

“They just throw it away and that goes to the Waste Management site which then gets put in our landfills and we wanted to change that,” Cortilet said. “We wanted to make it so our waste gets put to good use.”

The team is proposing that the school start a compost pile for food waste, members said. Their plan would save the school money, said team member Sean Gulbranson.

“With that money, we can buy equipment for gym or textbooks,” said team member Nicholas Vang.

Other teams looked at broader problems, such as banning a particularly toxic pesticide called chlorpyrifos and addressing homelessness.

“We’re trying to get homeless off the streets because they should have more opportunities than what they have,” said Kaylin Jorgensen.

The team found there’s a need for a lot more homeless shelters, Jorgensen said.

Television shows inspired one team to explore the issue of laws on exotic animal ownership.

Team member Ashley Agwatu said she watched a show on Animal Planet about a woman who kept a pack of half wolf/half dogs at her home and ended up being killed by them, which heightened her interest in the subject.

Twenty states have full bans on owning exotic pets, nine other states, including Minnesota, have partial bans, 12 states have a licensing process to own an exotic pet and nine states, including Wisconsin, have no laws on the subject, said team member Adiam Bereket.

The team members said they would like to see stronger bans nationwide to cut down on risk to humans, and for the good of the animals.

Check back for updates with the results of Wednesday’s state competition.