Betty Johnson, Astra Zeno and Dr. Anil Kumar

"Grass Roots Energy" is the winning program designed by Johnson and her program colleagues Zeno and Kumar. It is designed to engage the sixth-grade science students at Clifton Middle School in outdoor investigations that focus on components of an ecosystem. They will be able to understand how obtaining, transforming and distributing energy affects the environment. They will produce video documentaries of their work. Seventh-grade students will have the opportunity to investigate real-world concepts in solar energy science as well as investigate how green energy is being incorporated into their outdoor area to sustain a pond and small garden. Additionally, the 'all-girls' engineering class of eighth graders will design an ecologically friendly initiative for the community as a Capstone project as well as calculate energy savings and power produced by the system.