Dana McCauley, Susan Friend, Carrie Hordubay, Rebecca Sanders, Amanda Spiker, Karen Gilpin, Linda Stephens, Debra DeWitt

McCauley and her colleagues’ winning program, “Operation Conservation”, will impact every single student at Crellin Elementary. It expands on the existing outdoor classroom called the environmental education laboratory, and helps students learn about energy and conservation practices. By being involved, McCauley and her team hope the students become “chiefs of sustainability” as they encourage others to adopt the practices they learn. Areas of learning will include alternative forms of energy, monitoring and conserving energy, reducing, reusing and recycling waste, understanding how conservation practices affect their daily lives and their future, and designing and implementing a research project and campaign. Various resources will be used, including some from the National Energy Education Development Project and the book, Green My Parents by Tom Feegle. Because of the ING grant, the students will also develop a conservation campaign that will include print media, audio and video tactics. Its overall goal will be to encourage the community to implement conservation practices in order to save money and conserve resources.