Kids' Cardinal stadium
study gets national attention

Last spring, 14-year-old Nathan Strauss co-authored an environmental study on the proposed new St. Louis Cardinals stadium. This summer, that study got recognition at a national conference in San Diego.

A specially designed poster summarizing the stadium study won second place in the K-12 competition at the national GIS in Education Conference. GIS stands for geographic information systems.

The poster also will be included in the mapping archives at the Library of Congress.

Nathan co-authored the environmental impact study on the stadium with Drew Trovillion. Both were eighth graders at John Burroughs School last year.

Asked why he picked the Cardinal stadium as a subject, Nathan said, "I like baseball."

But, the study wasn't about the art of playing baseball. The kids studied the environmental costs against the economic benefit of construction and operation of a new stadium.

Nathan and Drew looked at the stadium proposal in terms of light, noise, water and air pollution. They also considered dangers to workers and surrounding property during construction.

Nathan said their conclusion was that the "project was a good one and the Cardinals should build it."

However, the two thought the developers should consider putting the new stadium where the old one is now. The current plans are to build the new stadium on a nearby open parking area. That's so the old stadium could be used while construction was going on.

The reason they recommended the reversal: Building the new stadium on the parking would put the new building too close to Highways 40-61.

"If a car accident were to occur (on the highways) during a game, it could be dangerous for all of the spectators and the players," their study concluded. Also, being so close to the highways posed "a grave threat of bioterrorism," they said.

The boys used GIS mapping techniques in putting their study together. That's a computer software system that maps a site and then brings in other data for that particular site.

For instance, they were able to analyze the site for soil types, rock formations and topography. They also check on where the site fit in the flood plain of the nearby Mississippi River.

They also checked on conditions of light, noise, water and air pollution.

They looked at the past history of the site and found it had been used for a lot of different things. There had been a metal-working shop, a printing plant, a gas station and auto repair shop. Also, in the 1800s, trains ran over the area.

They recommended soil samples be taken to check on groundwater pollution.

However, their conclusion was that "there wouldn't be much pollution and the new stadium would benefit the community."

Nathan has been profiled before by Young Saint Louis.com. In July, 2000, we wrote about Nathan after he won first place in an international geometry competition. To read that earlier story, just click here.

He's keeping up his achievements in math. Last spring, he had the only perfect score among Missouri 7th and 8th graders in the American Math Association's competition. He received a plaque from Governor Holden at an open house in Jefferson City.

He also received an honorable mention in a regional competition by the National Science Teachers Assn. That was for his report called "The Exsponger of Prion Diseases."

The competition asked kids to suggest solutions to scientific problems that haven't been solved yet but might be in 20 years. Nathan's report suggested a possible direction for experiments into curing "mad cow" disease.

His idea: invent a new protein which will undo the impact the "mad cow" prions have on the brains of livestock. These prions cause the brains of cows to turn spongy and cease to function. The disease can be transmitted to human.

The title of Nathan's study uses a play on the word, "expunge." That means "to erase." But, he invented a new spelling of "exsponger" so it would contain the word, "spong."

Although he's had a lot of success in math and science, Nathan says he's leaning toward a career in law. However, he admits that his career plans are "still evolving" and he hasn't decided on a college yet.

He is a freshman at John Burroughs this fall.