In 2012, SoHi student Bradyn Holly dug deep into the way roads are sanded during winter, searching for a way to cut down on springtime air and water pollution.
Bradyn writes… “My CFK project taught me to never give up when trying to find an answer to a question no matter how hard it is to find and how many people you have to ask because each person you talk to can teach you something no matter who they are.
My final project idea was switching the road sand from screened sand to washed sand in order to reduce the amount of dust in the air as well as the amount of silt that gets into the rivers. Silt can negatively affect salmon by disturbing their sense of direction, thus inhibiting their ability to find their way back to the stream they were born in. My original idea was to reuse the road sand to help with the costs of sanding as well as reduce the amount of sand needing to be mined out of gravel pits. However, after discussing my idea with my dad, Owner of River City Construction, as well as another local dirt work contractor, I discovered this would be too difficult due to filtering out the garbage and other foreign bodies in the sand from it being on the roads. They suggested changing the type of sand used.
The process itself was pretty straightforward but it involved A LOT of emails, phone calls, and meetings with various people in the community ranging from quarry managers to the city and borough mayors. I spoke with pretty much everyone who might have some insight in the Soldotna and Kenai City Halls as well as people within the borough. I was sending multiple emails a day to different people and playing phone tag until I’d eventually get a hold of them. Overall, it was a lot of work, but so worth it because I was completely prepared for anything the judges could ask me due to my research.
There were definitely some surprises throughout my research. I think the biggest was the people that would and wouldn’t help me find answers to even simple questions. This got frustrating at times but I kept pushing through and if one person wouldn’t help me, I’d go either above their head or around them to find a person that could be helpful.
Currently I am a drug and alcohol technician for Beacon Occupational Health and Safety in Anchorage, however, I have completed an Associates in Paramedic Technology and my State of Alask Firefighter 1 training while I was volunteering for two years with Central Emergency Services. I got involved with them as a senior at SoHi and became a full volunteer right after graduating. I hope to get back into the fire department in the future.“