At first they said no. Families had other plans. Reservations were set. Tickets purchased. So a representative of the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge called back: What if we tell you where the middle school DeadWeight team would present its research, could you change their mind?


Science teacher Hector Ibarra bit.

“The United Nations,” came the reply.

The team, which studied the environmental effects of lead wheel weights, had just taken the “trip of a lifetime” to Boston, shooting a 30-second video for the Discovery Education’s Planet Green and meeting TV personalities like Build It Bigger’s Danny Forester and Franklin Park Zoo’s Jeff Corwin. That was part of winning the nationwide award.

After that, presenting to a panel of certified experts did not seem as compelling. Until they mentioned the U.N.

“You wouldn’t get that opportunity again,” Ibarra said. “We’re going to New York City; who would say no?”

Plans got changed. Justin Roth gave up a trip to Canada. Brennan Nelson will be flown in from Seattle. And Jathan Kron?

“I’ll be flying away from all this beautiful corn,” he joked.

The DeadWeight team will spend Aug. 11-13 at the U.N.’S International Youth Conference. They will be three of only 200 students invited to explain their findings to between 50 to 100 U.N. members who are also scientists.

“It is a huge, big deal,” Ibarra said.

Roth agreed.

“I’m glad that word of our project will get out to lots of kids in New York City and diplomats around the world,” he said.

The team is pushing state and federal lawmakers — and now will get the opportunity to reach out to U.N. member nations — to phase out lead wheel weights in place of steel.

“I can’t wait,” Kron said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s going to be amazing.”

Ibarra said that Iowa “has to get on board” for their national award-winning project to start spreading to other states.

Lobbyists pushed back against three DeadWeight bills. The only one to pass out of committee was reworded to become an outright ban that forced tire dealers to immediately remove all lead wheel weights and replace them with steel.

“It was too stringent to pass,” Ibarra said.

The phasing process would be putting them on replacement tires. One bill would have required that of state-owned vehicles.

Ibarra said that DeadWeight is trying to convince Siemens, which awarded them their first No. 1 award, to use its industry contacts to put them in touch with decision-makers, not just company representatives.

“We want Siemens to make something big out of this in terms of a solution that is possible,” Ibarra said. “We need to get the big dogs to really listen.”

The team will stay in a hotel very close to Times Square. Their itinerary includes a photo shoot in Times Square after the U.N. presentation.

They also hope to squeeze in a Yankee’s game.