EcoLocalizer

Two groups of Pensacola kids are off to Washington, D.C., after taking top honors in the National Energy Education Development Program (NEED). Among the achievements that helped get them there: s’mores baked in a solar oven and Blackout Wednesdays in which students turned off classroom lights and relied on sunlight instead.

The Suter Energy Savers, a team of fourth-graders at Suter Elementary School, won at the elementary level for their work on 28 conservation projects in all. Their efforts included collecting $200 worth of recyclables, distributing flyers at area coffee shops urging customers to switch to compact fluorescent lightbulbs and making s’mores in a solar oven.

It was the first time the fourth-grade program won a national title, though it’s taken statewide honors three times already. The elementary program is led by teachers Deborah Pate and Judy Toy.

Also on their way to the Washington awards ceremony are eighth-graders representing The EnerJags from Workman Middle School. The junior level-winning team did everything from collecting recyclables and selling ad space on reusable shopping bags — enough to pay for the D.C. trip — to creating green t-shirts and observing regular “Blackout Wednesdays.”

Eighth-grade teacher Andrea Hussey said the weekly sunlight-only class day probably saved the school district about $200 in energy costs.

To find out more about Pensacola’s top green kids, check out this article in the Pensacola News Journal.

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