Four local schools are awarded mid-competition prizes as student / teacher collaborations add up to winning strategies in the Bend-La Pine Schools’ energy reduction competition. The eight-month competition encourages individual schools to look at their energy use and take tangible steps to reduce it.
Congratulations go out to Bear Creek Elementary, Westside Village Magnet School, Pine Ridge Elementary, and La Pine Middle School. These schools scored the highest scores on the monthly “energy saver score cards” which helped schools focus on specific target areas of energy use. The goal was to involve administrators, teachers and students in working together as a team to address different topics each month, and these four schools went above and beyond expectations.
Each school wins a celebratory onsite ice cream/frozen yogurt party thanks to our generous sponsors CuppaYo, Ben & Jerry’s and Karnopp Petersen.
1st Place: Bear Creek Elementary – Wednesday, June 15, 2:15 –2:45pm with CuppaYo
2nd Place: Westside Village Magnet School – Tuesday, June 14 2:45–3:30pm with Ben & Jerry’s
3rd Place: Pine Ridge Elementary – Thursday, June 16, 12:45 – 1:15pm
Bend-La Pine Schools are stepping up efforts to reduce district energy use as part of the Bend Energy Challenge. Bend’s current 11th place standing among 50 communities competing for the Georgetown University Energy Prize was part of the impetus behind the competition, as well as the fact that the district averages over $1 million in annual electricity costs. The goal of the Energy Conservation Challenge is to mobilize the entire BLPS team — administrators/supervisors, principals, assistant principals, teachers, facilities staff, nutrition staff and all school employees – to help to improve energy efficiency through changes in operating practices.
“I was really impressed with the collaboration between teachers, staff and students during the spring. The score cards had great attainable tasks, and the kids had fun – especially with the videos,” states Jackie Wilson, sustainability coordinator for Bend –La Pine Schools. Energy reduction monitoring continues during the summer through August, and the winning school at each level (elementary, middle and high school) will receive a cash prize of $1,500 presented by Karnopp Petersen LLC. Award assemblies will be held at the three winning schools in early Fall 2016.
About The Bend Energy Challenge
The Bend Energy Challenge is a project of The Environmental Center, a Bend nonprofit organization that is leading the local team effort in the national Georgetown University Energy Prize competition. The Energy Challenge is a collaborative effort of local and state government, the energy utilities that serve our community, local schools, businesses and nonprofits, and statewide energy organizations. For more information, visit www.bendenergychallenge.org or contact Lindsey Hardy at 541-385-6908 x11 or lindsey@envirocenter.org.
About Georgetown University Energy Prize
The Georgetown University Energy Prize is challenging millions of people in communities across the country to tap their imagination,creativity,and spirit of competition to become more energy efficient. After a rigorous 6-month application and filtering process, 50 communities were announced in January 2015 to compete for 2 years to be among the 10 finalists selected in April 2017. The winner will be announced in the summer of 2017 with judging based on performance,innovation, sustainability, and replicability. For more information, visit www.guep.org or call Chris Nelson, Project Director, at christofer.nelson@georgetown.edu or 202-642-2061.
