Lloyd High School’s Energy Team recognized with top honors at state and national level, headed to D.C.

Lloyd Memorial High School will be honored in Washington, D.C. in June for the outstanding work of its Energy Team. The Lloyd team’s work has been recognized with the senior-level Most Outstanding Project of the Year award for Kentucky and also has been named the National Senior School of the Year by the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project.

Lloyd Energy Team’s energy education project, “Can I Get A Watt Watt Year 2,” shared energy awareness and conservation ideas within the school district and the greater community in numerous ways.

Students designed carnival games and information booths to share energy resources with peers, younger students, families, and community members through several fun events, including a regional screening of the documentary Switch, an Energy Social with local elementary schools, a Go Green dance with the district’s middle school and an Adopt-a-Block afternoon with a local church. If that wasn’t enough, the team ran a year-long campaign to promote recycling practices throughout Lloyd High School, created an Energy Patrol accountability program for resource conservation, and partnered with government agencies, including the Kentucky Department for Air Quality, to bring exposure to alternative energy technologies.

“These students have recognized the need to promote energy conservation locally and have truly taken ownership for helping to share information among their peers, families, and community,” said Mrs. Melissa Stolz, biology teacher at Lloyd and the Energy Club’s sponsor. “They’ve done an outstanding job through their leadership and teamwork and we are very proud of what they have accomplished.”

In Kentucky, projects from 31 student energy teams were evaluated by an independent panel of educators and energy experts on student leadership, energy knowledge, and community involvement. Of those projects, awards were presented to outstanding and first-year entries from six Kentucky school districts. The awards were presented to students, teachers and honored guests during the 2016 Youth Summit and Awards Luncheon April 28 in Frankfort.

Duke Energy provides support for trip to D.C.

The Lloyd Energy Team will receive their national award at NEED’s conference in Washington D.C. June 24-27. Through generous funding support from Duke Energy, Stolz and five students will attend the national conference to accept the award.

“I want to congratulate all of the students and teachers for participating in Kentucky’s environmental education programs,” said Energy and Environment Secretary Charles Snavely. “I encourage all students to continue to explore, question, and share your knowledge. Through projects such as NEED, you demonstrate leadership and an understanding of what it means to be stewards of our environment.”

“We thank all of the students, teachers and administrators for participating in Kentucky NEED and environmental education,” said Karen Reagor, state coordinator of the NEED Project. “Through funding provided by the Kentucky Department for Energy Development and Independence, energy in education reaches hundreds of schools and thousands of students. What an honor for a Kentucky Student Energy Team to be recognized as the BEST in the country! We are so very proud of all they have accomplished.”

Now in its ninth year, the annual Youth Summit is organized in partnership with the Kentucky Green and Healthy Schools Program (KGHS) and Kentucky NEED. Schools and students were honored for their efforts in both the KGHS program and for their energy projects organized through the NEED project.

The NEED project is a nonprofit organization with programs in all 50 states, the U.S. Territories and several other nations. NEED has developed innovative materials and implemented programs that not only tech about energy, but also develop leadership and critical thinking skills. EED is sponsored by both renewable and nonrenewable energy companies, federal, state and local agencies, energy consumers, and by national and state energy and education associations. Details about the Kentucky NEED Project can be found online: http://www.need.org/kentucky

KGHS is a program of the Kentucky Environmental Education Council and the Kentucky Department of Education.

For more information about Kentucky’s energy initiatives, visit www.energy.ky.gov

Erlanger-Elsmere Independent School District has a culturally diverse population of about 2,400 students in a community of approximately 20,000 people in Northern Kentucky. Learn more at: