WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) announced the national champions of America’s Home Energy Education Challenge (AHEEC), a student competition created to help families save money by saving energy. The sixth grade class from South Ripley Elementary School in Versailles, Indiana, and sixth and seventh grade students from Villa Maria School in Stamford, Connecticut, were together declared the national champions for their efforts, which reduced household energy usage, encouraged school-wide involvement and collaboration to save energy, and engaged their local community.

The AHEEC competition, which is administered by NSTA, challenged teams of third through eighth grade students to work with their science teachers and local utility companies to develop energy savings plans that would reduce the amount of energy used to power their homes and schools. Each student team monitored and measured their energy consumption over a three month period between September 2013 and February 2014, and compared it to data from the same period the year before.

The winners were chosen from a select group of finalists and were judged on several criteria, including energy and cost savings, overall quality and presentation of the team narrative, focus on behavioral changes, and creativity of local school involvement. As national champions, each school will receive $10,000.

A full list of the challenge winners and honorable mentions can be viewed here.

Publication date: 6/2/2014

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