Karen Reagor

State Coordinator
The NEED Project
P.O. Box 176055
Covington, KY  41017
Tel:  859-578-0312
Email:  kreagor@need.org

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.

Kentucky NEED quick links

• Change the World Mini-Grants
• Change the World Pledge Driver Campaign
• VendingMiser Project

Kentucky NEED Calendar

Check the links below for upcoming events and opportunities

October 2011

11 Kentucky NEED Energy Workshop - Sponsored by LG&E/KU - Carrollton

18 Kentucky NEED Energy Workshop - Sponsored by LG&E/KU - Danville

20 Kentucky NEED Energy Workshop - Sponsored by DEDI - Bowling Green

20 Kentucky NEED Energy Workshop - Sponsored by LG&E/KU - Eddyville

November 2011

4-5 Kentucky Science Teachers Association Conference - Lexington

17 Kentucky NEED Energy Workshop Sponsored by LG&E/KU-Elizabethtown

Student Opportunities for 2011-2012

Change the World Mini-Grants    
Kentucky NEED will again offer Change the World mini-grants in the amount of $150.00.  An additional $150 is available for K-8 schools that receive electric utilities from LG&E or KU.  These grants are for projects that are designed and facilitated by students to educate about and promote energy efficiency in their schools and/or communities.

A limited number of grants will be awarded, subject to the availability of funds. Applications will be accepted starting September 1, 2011.  To apply, click here.  Change the World Pledge Driver Campaign   
The Kentucky NEED Project, with the help of our teachers, students, parents, and sponsors, are doing our part to help protect our environment and educate others about energy. As part of our Kentucky NEED team, students may sign up as Pledge Drivers for the ENERGY STAR^® Change the World program.  This is a national campaign encouraging citizens to purchase qualified compact fluorescent light bulbs, home appliances or other energy efficiency devices the next time they replace one of these items in their home, office, or school. The pledge is a simple but vital resource for getting consumers to commit to saving energy resources one step at a time.

Kentucky NEED provides a pledge template and an on-line link that allows the students to track the reduction of greenhouse gases as a result of their efforts.  With the help of students across the Commonwealth, Kentucky NEED has been the leading Change the World pledge driver in the education category for the past three years.  To be part of this Kentucky success story, register your student team as a Change the World Pledge Driver under the Kentucky NEED umbrella. To apply, click here.

NEED Students Save Schools Energy in VendingMiser® Study  VendingMiser® Project – Continues in 2011-12 - Helping Students Track School Energy Savings
In 2010-11, Kentucky NEED facilitated a study conducted by students that led to the reduction of energy consumption of vending machines in 20 participating schools by an average of 52%. 

On September 1, 2011 Kentucky NEED will begin accepting applications for the 2011-2012 VendingMiser Project.  As part of the project Sanders & Associates will offer one (1) FREE VendingMiser® (VM) for each school district in Kentucky.  To qualify, a team of students must complete a two (2) week plug load study of a cold drink machine in their school and submit their data on the official project application form.  Click here to apply.   

Students Making a Difference . . .

Kentucky NEED National Leader in ENERGY STAR® Pledge Drive   
For the third year in a row, Kentucky students have collected more ENERGY STAR pledges in the national Change The World campaign than any other educational group.  Together Kentucky students have reduced 38,663,398 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions and 23,240,625 kilowatt hours of electricity consumption.

Kentucky Schools Received National Honors   
Two Kentucky schools received national honors at the NEED Youth Award Program for Energy Achievement held in Washington, D.C. on July 24, 2011.  Randall Cooper High School and James Caywood Elementary were both recognized for their energy education projects conducted during the previous school year.  A summary of their projects may be viewed by clicking here and here.

Recognized at National Ceremony in Washington, DC:  Kentucky Students Attend National Energy Conference  
Sixty-one students from ten Kentucky student energy teams and two district-level teams received national recognition at the National Energy Education Development Project’s Youth Awards Program for Energy Achievement held June 20-24, 2011 in Washington, D.C. 

• Centerfield Elementary School
• Dixie Elementary Magnet School
• Dixie High School (Kenton County)
• Fayette County Schools
• Henry Clay High School (Fayette County)
• James A. Caywood Elementary
• Kenton County School District
• Lyon Count Elementary School
• Phillip A. Sharp Middle School
• Piner Elementary (Kenton County)
• Randall Cooper High School
• Richardsville Elementary School

This prestigious event is held annually to recognize students from across the nation with outstanding programs in energy education.  Travel funds for the groups were made possible, in part, from sponsors including the Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Company (KU) and the Kentucky Department for Energy Development and Independence. 

These student teams participated in energy education along with 43 other student teams at the state level.

Fifty-one Schools & Two Districts Receive Kentucky NEED 2011 Youth Awards for Energy Achievement          
The Kentucky NEED Project is pleased to announce the 2011 outstanding projects submitted to the Kentucky NEED Youth Awards Program for Energy Achievement.  The students from each of these honored Kentucky schools dedicated this past school year to learning about the science of energy and its practical applications locally and nationally.  Based on this foundation, they planned and implemented a project to educate their peers and communities about energy. 

Elementary Level (School and County) 

Junior Level (School and County)

Senior Level (School and County)

District Level

Project Descriptions of Outstanding 2011 Kentucky NEED Student Teams          
At the May 18, 2011 Youth Summit and Awards Luncheon, six schools and two districts were recognized for their outstanding energy education projects.  Here is a description of their energy education project, in their own words.

• Dixie Elementary Magnet School

  Lexington, KY

  Project Title: Energy Conservation

  Project Adviser: Amy Crowe

  Dixie Elementary Magnet School can be found in the Heart of the Bluegrass. We have the overwhelming task of growing towards being a Green and Healthy School, but we are ready for the challenge. As we continue towards making our students more environmentally conscious and valuable United States citizens, we discovered that these Energy Projects would help us reach this goal. As an energy saving school, the third grade energy team worked towards meeting several Energy Goals. We conducted energy audits throughout the school. We also determined light levels throughout the building. We joined the 10-10-10 Challenge, as well as the ENERGY STAR Challenge. As a third grade, we determined that our energy project would be to install LED exit signs throughout our building, to save on our energy consumption. The bulbs in our current exit signs can be 25-50 watts, and are left on 24 hours a day. The LED exit signs would only have bulbs that are 10 watts. By using LED exit signs, our energy usage will decrease about 9.9% as these signs will be more efficient.

  We are excited for the changes in our school home, and the impact it will make on the world around us.

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  Ashland Elementary School

  Lexington, KY

  Project Title: Energy Efficiency and Sustainability at Ashland Elementary

  Project Adviser: Patrice Burlew

  The first of our goals was to figure out how much energy we use at Ashland Elementary School. Students did a secret audit of some of the classes to see how we use energy at our school, and did a Plug Load and light level survey. Secondly, to raise awareness about energy use, we put light switch stickers in the school, and put notes in classrooms to tell students if they were saving energy. Our third goal was to use power strips in the school to conserve energy. Students wrote the grant application form and put the power strips in. We think it will save $123.52 in energy costs this year! Fourth graders also taught first graders about energy conservation.

  For the community, we collected about 6,720 cans to recycle. We also planted plants, because energy is wasted to deliver produce. We will also participate in the Change the World, Start with ENERGY STAR pledge drive. Ashland fourth graders will participate in the 10-10-10 Challenge. We learned a lot about saving energy and helping our school and community this year.

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  NATIONAL ELEMENTARY LEVEL SCHOOL OF THE YEAR FINALIST

  James A Caywood Elementary School

  Edgewood, KY

  Project Title: “We’re going to save this Earth, going to do things right”

  Project Advisers: Lisa Dern and Renee Topmiller

  Our main goal this year was to educate the students, staff, and community on conserving energy, and to inform them of the benefits associated with being “Energy WISE”.

  Keeping that goal in mind, we first decided to set up a booth at our school Fall Festival. This way we could reach families and students early in the year to get them thinking about the importance of saving energy.

  Throughout the year, we were able to complete many other activities to spread the word about “Going Green”. For example, we held an energy assembly and energy week at our school; we made an energy music video that was posted to YouTube, and even submitted it to news/talk shows. We even made the effort to connect face to face with our community when we went to a local grocery store to pass out reusable bags stuffed with fliers promoting the district energy fair!

  We also work with a group of fourth and fifth grade students that collect all recyclable material for our school. All faculty and students participate in this program.

  Throughout these activities, hopefully it is clear that we are trying to save the Earth and do things right!

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  Phillip A. Sharp Middle School

  Butler, KY

  Project Title: Save N.R.G.

  Project Adviser: Patricia Brownfield

  This year we wanted to teach people about energy and energy savings. We started with an appliance and energy audit of our building. Next, we contacted our Energy Manager, Becki Lanter, for help. We developed a survey to send to Southern Elementary and Pendleton County High School. Our goal was to help our Energy Manager complete the appliance survey for our district. We also revisited the energy audit to find out if we were saving as much energy as possible. It was very interesting what we learned and we made recommendations to our school’s Site Based Decision Making Council. Next we learned of a study using VendingMisers® to reduce both the energy used and the cost of operating soft drink and vending machines. We targeted our soft drink machines because we had more of them. Our final goal and project was to hold what has become our annual Energy Carnival for the fourth grade students in our district. Our sponsor had been asked by the fourth grade teachers if we were going to hold the Energy Carnival again this year…and we said YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  Richardsville Elementary School

  Bowling Green, KY

  Project Title: Changing Habits Changes the World!

  Project Adviser: Manesha Ford

  Boom, bang, solar power! This year we moved into the nation’s first net zero school building. Last year we learned about sources of energy and how solar power makes our school special. This year we focused on how our building is energy efficient. We became experts about our school and created presentations on insulated concrete forms walls, solar, kitchen equipment, natural lighting, and rain gardens. The presentations were given at our open house, a Kentucky NEED High Performance School building workshop, to Mrs. Beshear, and to the students.

  Recycling was our focus this year because we have a recycling hallway and we must change our habits to support being “green” in our “green” building. A recycling bin contest was held for classrooms to make their own bin. We also co-sponsored “Indoor Snowmen” with our parent teacher organization. Each grade level made a snowman out of recycled materials. Our sixth grade energy team is writing a book about recycling using the pictures of the snowmen. The Museum of Solid Waste and Energy exhibits were completed to share the connection between recycling and energy with the community, parents, and students. Another way we supported changing our habits to be energy efficient was through monthly energy assessments and feedback. We looked for lights being off, and windows and doors staying closed.

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  NATIONAL SENIOR LEVEL ROOKIE SCHOOL OF TRHE YEAR

  Randall K. Cooper High School

  Union, KY

  Project Title: Energy Carnivals and Expo – Cooper 2011

  Project Adviser: Sara Lainhart

  The Energy Aficionados of Cooper High School created an energy project primarily for area elementary students. During the Energy Carnivals we conducted, students went through transformations using skits with props, sources of energy tri­ folds we constructed, the Science of Energy experiments, Energy Works experiments, and the Energy Carnival games. We contacted the Energy Manager of our school district who was the liaison between the schools, created a brochure, and wrote e-letters to all of the area schools.

  We also began a recycling project to obtain a picnic table made from the #2 plastics we collect. We made it our “entry fee” for the students to come to our energy carnivals and expo. We also asked the media team to work with us within our school to promote the project by making a series of videos for the schools to view dealing with energy and recycling.

  At our Energy Expo area businesses, students, and families learned about energy, met together for networking, and enjoyed student led lessons from Forms of Energy, Energy Transformations, Energy Works, Science of Energy experiments, and Energy Carnival games. The experiments centered on motion, heat, light, and sound; the games centered on sources, forms, and uses of energy.

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  Fayette County Public Schools

  Lexington, KY

  Project Title: Energy Efficiency and Sustainability in Fayette County Project

  Adviser: Tresine Logsdon

  Fayette County Public Schools is composed of 33 elementary schools, 12 middle schools, five high schools, two technical centers, and four alternative programs. Our total student enrollment for 2010-2011 is 36,895. The school system has made dramatic improvements in energy conservation and management. For example, Athens-Chilesburg Elementary received The Environmental Protection Agency’s elite ENERGY STAR Certification in 2010. ENERGY STAR is the national mark of excellence in energy performance, where facilities are assigned an ENERGY STAR Rating based on energy usage compared to other similar buildings. There are also several new buildings that are being designed and constructed to reduce energy consumption. Locust Trace Agriscience Center is being constructed as a net zero school, meaning that with energy efficient building components the facility is expected to generate more energy than it consumes.

  Fayette County Schools understands the importance of investing in a management program for energy and sustainability. Without a management program, escalating prices for use of our natural resources will have significant financial consequences for the schools and community. Building an educational program in concert with a resource conservation program will provide our students with tools that will prepare them to be responsible citizens in the 21st century.

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  Kenton County School District

  Ft. Wright, KY

  Project Title: Work the Circuit

  Project Adviser: Christine Baker

  This year was a year for firsts! The first Kenton County School District’s energy efficiency fair, our first solar car race, our first home energy assessment program, and our first interactive sustainability outdoor laboratory!

  We had many goals this year to improve our overall energy education program. We hosted the first “Work the Circuit– Saving Energy Makes Cents” energy efficiency fair. We had vendor booths, educational booths, non-profit booths, student booths, presentations on energy efficiency and renewable energy, and the first Kenton County School District Solar Classic. The Solar Classic was held during the “Work the Circuit” event. All of our middle and high school E=WISE2 teams participated by designing and building solar race cars.

  One of our high school teams piloted the new home energy assessment program. They created the forms and reporting tools and conducted home energy assessments. This program will be reproduced at our other high schools next year.

  Students and staff worked together to design the District’s interactive sustainability outdoor laboratory and construction is under way! Next year we will be working with teachers and students to create curriculum to be used with the outdoor laboratory.