Protect the bears in Tahoe.
Increase the Lake’s clarity.
These are two ideas that inspired Paige Atkins, a wildlife ecology and conservation major and a legacy student of Sierra Nevada University. Living and studying on the Lake Tahoe campus, Adkins’s education constantly incorporated local conservation and wildlife. Adkins’s ideas were award-winning, as well.
In 2024, she placed first in the Preger-Tahoe Prize Creative Idea Challenge for her solution to protect bears through better trashcan security. She also won first in this year’s Preger Challenge for her idea for upcycling an invasive shrimp species. The Preger-Tahoe Prize Creative Idea Challenge (PTPCIC) was started at Sierra Nevada University
in 2020. Funded by long-time Incline Village residents Bob and Eleanor Preger, the competition requires students pitch a cutting-edge product or service. The competition runs both semesters on the Lake Tahoe campus and is quite extensive: Students submit applications and deliver presentations to the selection committee.
Adkins graduated in May, with a degree from the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources. Adkins was awarded two minors in environmental science and art.
From one credit weekend to an award-winning idea
In the winter months of 2025, Adkins enrolled in a One Credit Weekend Course, a program specific to the Lake Tahoe campus, with Professor Jonathan Breiter called "Brainstorming." It was during these few days that she came up with her creative idea for 2025: “Sploosh.” Aware of the mysid shrimp, an invasive species that causes the lake to lose clarity, Adkins formulated an idea: remove mysid shrimp from the lake and use them as a natural fertilizer. Adkins entered this idea into the 2025 Preger-Tahoe Prize Creative Idea Challenge. And, like the year before, she placed first – making Adkins the first student to win two years in a row.
