Saint Margaret Catholic School

Lake Charles, LA

Project Title: A Cleaner Today for a Greener Tomorrow

Project Adviser: Judy Reeves

Energy is everywhere in the world around us. It provides us with the force to work and also makes life easier. Without energy’s massive power, tasks that seem easy today would be nearly impossible. As the St. Margaret Science Club, we have made others more aware of the energy in the world around us and helped to preserve that energy for the future.

We started off with cleaning projects to protect the natural flow of the environment. We also participate in a recycling program around the school and community to conserve our resources and raise awareness to others about the need to conserve. We then shifted our focus to the subject of energy sources, renewable and nonrenewable. We held an Energy Fair with volunteers from companies like Entergy and Agro-Electric. We held an energy awareness week at school to educate younger students, and we hosted our own Energy Expo to educate the school and community on how our energy is obtained. No project is complete without a little fun; we went on educational field trips to places like Moody Gardens and the Oil Rig Museum.

We have made sure to work to preserve the world’s energy for tomorrow.

Park View Middle School

Cranston, RI

Project Title: PV Cougars

Project Advisers: Joanne Spaziano, Nancy Decosta, Sheila Hopkins

Our PV Cougars have had a busy year.  We were at the hot dog roast in August 2010.  We had our first meeting on September 13, 2010.  We did community service projects.  We did a conference for the St. Williams students on October 23rd.  We also made a donation to the Thanksgiving food baskets and paid for busses for students to attend our conference in December.  We did two conferences for teachers and students for the RI State Energy office which was also sponsored by National Grid.  We made a list of energy tips for the morning announcements and put NEED news on the school website.  Mrs. DeCosta and Mrs. Hopkins also used NEED materials to teach on their Explorers team.  The Energy Fair was our big event. National Grid came to present.  They sent a Spanish speaking rep and that encouraged our bilingual students to also speak in their own languages to their parents which really gave all of our NEED leaders a boost of confidence.    All of our students have bonded together and they think of themselves as the NEED family.  We have reached over 500 people directly and over 5000 people through the newspapers and online news.