The KyNEED Project

What is Kentucky NEED?
KyNEED is the Kentucky affiliate of the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project. The NEED Project is dedicated to comprehensive, hands-on energy education. Students are presented with objective scientific explanations or energy in society. Materials and activities are designed to promote an understanding of the economic and environmental trade-offs of energy consumption and production, so that students will be able to make education decisions in the future. KyNEED offers many opportunities for educators and students including:

Are there special training programs offered by KyNEED?

During the week of July 8-11, 2002, over 20 KY educators traveled by bus on our 1st Annual Kentucky Energy Conference for Educators. The conference provided site visits to help teachers become aware of Kentucky’s energy resources – both renewable and nonrenewable – and to give them instruction on using NEED’s curriculum materials in their classrooms. Later in July, four Kentucky teachers attended NEED’s National Training Conferences in Galveston, TX and Charleston, SC. The 2003 Kentucky Energy Conference for Educators will be held July 21-25, 2003. Applications will be available in January. To request an application, contact Karen Reagor at kreagor@need.org or at 1-859-578-0312.

How do you become involved?
Simply write, fax, or email Karen Reagor the KyNEED Executive Director, and she'll highlight the sponsorship available in your community. In many areas all NEED materials are available to schools free of charge. KyNEED will keep you up-to-date regarding up-coming workshops, conferences, continuing education opportunities, and new additions to your membership materials. Teachers and schools have memberships in KyNEED that are active for the duration of the current school year. Each fall, all participating educators receive a renewal notice to update their membership and receive the new annually up-dated education materials.

State agencies and private corporations interested in becoming involved should contact the KyNEED office or Mary Spruill at NEED Headquarters in Manassas, Virginia at (703)257-1117.

What happens after I sign up for membership?
You will receive the NEED Project's 2002-2003 Energy Kit containing hundreds of energy education activities developed for all disciplines and age levels. The kit contains energy Infobooks on the ten leading energy sources (at three different reading levels), and other great new activities from NEED as well as information about the Youth Awards Program for Energy Achievement! In addition, you will receive a catalog of materials from which you may order up to six other supplemental publications to complete your energy curriculum kit!

What are the other benefits of membership?
Six times a year you will receive the Energy Exchange Newsletter, the only national newsletter dedicated to energy issues and developed for use in all classrooms. Recent issues have spotlighted Railroads, Coal Development, Nuclear Power, and Electric Vehicles.

In April, you and your students will be invited to submit a scrapbook of your activities in energy education for review in the KyNEED Youth Awards for Energy Achievement. The scrapbooks will be evaluated at the state and national level with the winning schools earning an invitation to the National Recognition Ceremonies in June. Summaries of the 2002 state and national award winners are available on-line. The KyNEED Youth Awards Program will be held in May 2003 in Frankfort.
Deadline for entries to be submitted to KyNEED is April 15, 2003.

Send projects to:

KyNEED

attn: Karen Reagor

The Kentucky Division of Energy continues its support of the program across the state. In 2002-3, KyNEED and the Kentucky Division of Energy are partnering on the Kentucky EnergySmart Schools program designed to help schools in six northern Kentucky pilot counties reduce energy costs while educating students and teachers about energy.

The Kentucky Coal Council partners with KyNEED to provide workshops, COAL Multi-Media kits and the Kentucky Resources map for KyNEED schools. See the KyNEED workshop schedule for more info.

American Electric Power supports workshops and materials for schools and is a prime sponsor of the July 2002 Kentucky Energy Conference for Teachers.

The Kentucky River Coal Corporation supports our program in Letcher, Knott, Leslie and Perry Counties. See the KyNEED workshop schedule for more info.

Many thanks to the Kentucky Oil and Gas Association for their contribution to KyNEED. The proceeds received from the Annual KOGA Golf Tournament are used to support workshops and materials for schools throughout Kentucky.

Cinergy supports KyNEED Programs in six Northern Kentucky counties and provide training and materials for schools in the region as part of a special Demand-Side Management project.

ULH&P supports KyNEED in six Northern Kentucky Counties...

The Collaborative of Union, Light, Heat and Power provides Demand-Side Management funding to support KyNEED workshops and classroom materials in Boone, Campbell, Kenton, Gallatin, Grant and Pendleton Counties.

This region is also participating in a KyNEED - Kentucky Division of Energy partnership called Kentucky EnergySmart Schools. This program is funded in part by the Kentucky Division of Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy. It will be piloted in the six counties in Northern Kentucky currently participating in the ULH&P partnership. This project will help schools reduce energy cost and improve energy education programs in the classrooms.

If you have questions about the Kentucky EnergySmart Schools program, feel free to email Pam Proctor.

One-day teacher/student workshops are held in the fall and spring and half day programs are offered at individual schools. Funding is also provided to send area teachers to the National Energy Conferences for Educators sessions in July. To schedule a workshop or apply for the conference, please contact Karen Reagor.

KyNEED gratefully acknowledges the continued support of ULH&P for the Northern Kentucky Program. (Funds are provided through the rates paid by ULH&P residential customers)