DWMS students exhibit at Walton event

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Students from Desert Wind Middle School presented their award-winning Future City “Juwel” at the Walton Sustainability Solutions Celebration on Wednesday.

The event was hosted by Rob and Melani Walton, Walmart chairman, at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix.

Juwel team members included Ana Hoopes, Savannah Shelabarger, Isabel Youniacutt and Riley Bell-Niver.

Juwel captivated the large audience, and students spent most of the night talking about and describing their city of the future.  

Desert Wind 20+1 teacher Shannon Hull stated, “Listening to them last night was so exciting.  We had the president of ASU, CEO's of very large companies, many engineers, professors and leaders of Arizona businesses stopping to engage in great conversations with our students.”

 ***ADVERTISEMENT***Hull remembered one particular gentleman, a professor of Sustainability at ASU, speaking with Savannah. He said "I'm very impressed with you. I teach graduate courses at ASU, and I teach exactly what you were just talking about."  
 
“This was a rare opportunity for our talented young students to converse with a man like Mr. Walton,” Hull said. “Mrs. Szoltysik and I certainly were nervous, but our girls were rock solid. It is not every day that you are in the presence of the 11th richest human on the planet and he is enthralled with their project and asking a ton of questions.”