Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources

Contact: Charlie Hawkins

Tel: (401) 574-9124

Email: chawkins@energy.ri.gov

For a small state, Rhode Island is BIG in energy education. Hosting over six workshops a year for teachers and three workshops for teams for teachers and students, NEED’s programming in Rhode Island covers the science of energy, energy sources, wind and solar energy, and home and school building energy efficiency. NEED participates in the Rhode Island conference of the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership and provides resources to school districts working to reduce energy consumption in school buildings. With the support of the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources and National Grid, hundreds of teachers and students are reached each year.

Teachers can access NEED curriculum online. As resources are available, teacher workshops and hands-on kits are available. Individual state curriculum correlations are available here.

Scituate Middle School

North Scituate, RI

Project Title: Scituate Middle School NEED

Project Adviser: Ruth Trainor

As a fairly new group, we used this year to begin developing a strong team of student leaders who were dedicated to learning about energy conservation and sustainability. We worked to build strong relationships within the group and began the year doing projects to foster teamwork. As the year progressed we partook in several workshops, symposiums, and projects to help us learn more about the environment, renewable energy sources, and local framing and agriculture. As part of our desire to learn more about these issues, we attended Scituate High School’s NEED workshop, Parkview Middle School’s NEED workshop, and the Schools as Tools forum. We also worked on green science kits to study mechanical energy, circuits, and engineers, including the creation of a tin can robot, a wind generator, a propeller car, and a NEED Kit Hydro-turbine. We also visited a local sheep farm to better understand local farming. As part of teaching others we conducted classroom presentations, created a Compact Fluorescent Promise Petition, presented at Community Energy Night, the annual plant sale, and our new movie night. We wish to thank our community and parents for showing such an interest in our efforts and Ms. Donovan for being our source of support and wisdom.

NATIONAL JUNIOR SCHOOL OF THE YEAR

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 5,000 people through the newspapers and online news.

Hope High School

Providence, RI

Project Title: Energy Management for Home and School

Project Adviser: John Gallo

After continuous growth and learning regarding the importance that energy plays in the daily lives of our students, families, and in our neighborhoods, the Hope Blue Wave Energy Club launched another campaign led by the students in our Intervention Program. This team hosted a state-wide workshop in the fall of 2010. The Blue Wave Energy Club organized numerous after- school meetings and held its first annual Parent Energy Night. The Club also assisted classroom teachers at Hope High School to incorporate the NEED lesson plans into their daily curriculum and put NEED lesson plans together in sub-folders. The Energy Club also attended several field trips throughout the state, and partnered with our school resource officer. At Hope High School our NEED program is ever expanding, learning, and willing to take on a variety of new challenges. Thanks to a supportive administration and a willing student body, our Blue Wave Energy Club was and will continue to be a great success in the future.

NATIONAL SENIOR SCHOOL OF THE YEAR

Scituate High School

Scituate, RI

Project Title: Scituate High School NEED Project

Project Adviser: Shannon Donovan

Student leaders in the Scituate High School NEED Project continued their work this year to educate students, teachers, and members of the community about saving energy and building a sustainable society. We worked very hard this year to help people think about their eating and entertainment habits, and the environmental impacts of the choices that they make. Our water use and groundwater protection also are related to energy as it takes much energy to bring us clean water and much energy to take care of our waste. We are very excited to report that we have begun preliminary work to convert a gasoline powered vehicle to a completely electric vehicle. Our biggest events included our plant sales, the Water Festival, Energy Night, our NEED Workshops, and the School as Tool forum where our students gave a presentation to the whole conference. Thank you to our community partners: Northern Rhode Island Conservation District, the Department of Environmental Management, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Providence Water.