Casey Pilkington

Pilkington’s winning project, “Spinning Green: Interdisciplinary Fitness Program”, is an innovative exercise program that integrates physical education, health, science and math at Meeting House Hill School. With the help of the ING grant, the project introduces child-sized spinning bikes connected to generators, allowing the students to produce watts of energy for the school’s electrical system as they exercise. The overall goal is to have all 600 students learn about clean energy, electricity, healthy habits and to have students positively give back to the environment. As a result, in one session, students can prevent 6 ounces of carbon dioxide from returning into the environment. In addition to the environmental impact, Pilkington’s project will also provide an opportunity for students to exercise at a vigorous level outside of physical education classes. Pilkington, who lives in Danbury, hopes that by having the children acquire fitness skills at an early age, the students will increase their likelihood of continuing these skills later in life.