Funding Awarded: $202,500

INDUSTRY PARTNERS:

AquaTherm, Backup Power Source, Creekside Composting, Empire Plumbing & Heating, Great River Energy, Green Energy Products, Sunrise Agra Fuels,  Three Seasons and More and over 100 additional businesses in MNREM Region

Key Partners:

Southwest Initiative Foundation, Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center, Prairie Ecology Bus Center, High Schools throughout the region, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, Southwest West Central Service Cooperative, University of Minnesota - Morris, Gustavus Adolphus College and SW MN Private Industry Council

Project Summary:

In 21 counties in southern and west central Minnesota, renewable energy professionals from Three Seasons & More (solar thermal energy), Green Energy Products (small wind and solar), Creekside Composting, and over 100 other businesses are collaborating with schools and community partners to provide support to 21 teams of students participating in Youth Energy Summit (YES!).

YES! is a team-oriented youth program that uses hands-on, experiential learning to address energy opportunities and issues. TheYES! teams, led by staff from Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center and Prairie Ecology Bus Center are taking on energy action projects in their communities, leading to increased knowledge of energy issues, climate change, and conservation. The success of these projects is amplified through partnerships with businesses, post-secondary educational institutions, nonprofits, utility companies, and economic development organizations throughout the region.

Project Outcomes:

• 275 students as active participants in YES! teams

• 125 businesses that helped/worked with YES! teams

• 120 community members who helped/worked with YES! teams

• Over 9,000 additional students in the school systems impacted through educational information presented by YES! students and industry experts

• Over 42,000 community members impacted through outreach and education efforts

• Earned the 2010 Minnesota Environmental Initiative Award for Environmental Education. These awards recognize innovative projects that have harnessed the power of partnership to achieve extraordinary environmental outcomes.

Project Description:

Hands-on experience is one of the best teachers for students learning about renewable energy. Twenty-one teams (grades 8-12) tackled projects such as recycling programs, installing solar panels, designing green roofs, building vertical-access wind turbines, and educating elementary students and community members about renewable energy.

"With the MNREM funding, we were able to double the program within one year," Cheryl Glaeser, Southwest Initiative Foundation program officer. "We bring students together three times a year for learning opportunities, and then coordinators from YES! along with area businesses and community members work with the teams on energy action projects in their communities."

Anne Dybsetter, YES! Coordinator with Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center in Spicer, worked with 12 teams involving 170 high school students. "We worked on asset mapping in their communities, leadership training, and renewable energy opportunities out in the region," she said.

Business owner John Duevel, Three Seasons and More in Willmar, helped a YES! team build and install a solar heating system on a little theater in New London. The opportunity gave students hands-on training and exposed them to how science is applied in real life. "The most rewarding part for me was when one young man came up to me and said, ‘we worked on E=mc2 for six weeks in school and in 15 minutes, you explained it.' "

Another YES! student's experience has confirmed her career path. "Now, I want to go into Engineering because I think it would be really cool to make the energy efficient gadgets that are coming out these days," said Samantha Ehrenberg, a senior from Grove City.