“Tan SUV, 2:37,” Gabe Rios, 17, says into his walkie-talkie, then makes a notation on the sheet attached to the clipboard in his other hand.

Gabe and partner Christian Learned, 17, are standing outside Bothell’s Northshore Junior High just as classes there let out for the day.

Along with other students from Bothell High, the two intend to keep an eye on the movements of that SUV — as well as every other vehicle that enters the school’s lot.

Specifically, they note when cars arrive and when those same cars leave.

But, no, they aren’t spying on anyone. Well, not really. And they have a worthy reason for doing what they are doing.

“I think we can have an impact on the community,” Gabe said.

“It’s to help save the environment,” added Christian.

Thanks to the efforts of program instructor Pat McCue, the Northshore Automotive Technology chapter of Skills USA, based at Bothell High, has received a $10,000 innovation and sustainability grant to conduct a large-scale service project aimed at reducing vehicle emissions at district schools.

The grant was one of only 12 innovation grants awarded by State Farm Insurance.

With some 35 or so students involved, McCue said the project will run through May.

Working with the Washington State Department of Ecology, McCue’s auto-tech students are monitoring and tabulating the amount of emissions generated by the hundreds of vehicles that reach the drop-off and pick-up zones of the Northshore School District’s elementary and junior high schools every day.

After all the data is collected, the group will work with district administration to come up with a plan to reduce emissions. Gabe and Christian are also part of a Northshore team that used the service project to win a gold medal at a regional Skills USA competition. They will take the project to the state contest in Yakima this month with hopes to advance to the national competition to be held in Kansas City, Mo., in mid-April.

McCue said students started counting cars two or three months ago. He added that so far, elementary school parents seem to be the worst offenders in terms of letting their cars idle as they wait for their children to emerge from district buildings.

According to McCue, there are numerous problems with letting cars idle for long periods of time. Perhaps first and foremost, McCue said engines are at their most inefficient when idling, kicking out large levels of emissions, including greenhouse gases. He added one student involved with the project has taken on the task of totaling and calculating all the data, including figuring how many pounds of potentially harmful gases and emissions all those idling cars are puffing out.

“We want to be able to say, ‘This is how much money you’re wasting, this is how many pounds of greenhouse gases you’re releasing right where your kids live and breathe,’” McCue said.

So far, McCue’s students have visited every district school to count cars dropping students off in the morning. They are now working on afternoon counts, presumably when parents are picking up students. Still, calculations say those morning drop-offs are generating 31,000 pounds of greenhouse gases.

“I was really surprised there was that much,” Gabe said.

Mark Jenson is another student working on the project. He added that the amount of gases generated depends partly on the design of an individual school’s parking lot.

McCue said once all the car counting is complete, the State Farm grant will help fund a public awareness campaign that should touch every Northshore school, including putting up signs asking parents to turn off cars while waiting for students. McCue’s students already have made at least one preliminary report to the district board of directors and eventually may make presentations in every school.

McCue said he got the idea for the project during some summer training. He said once the public awareness campaign is complete, his students will be doing additional research to measure that campaign’s success.