Exeter, NH (February 23, 2007)—Phillips Exeter Academy currently remains in fourth place at the end of the third week of this year’s Green Cup Challenge, with a solid 8.5% reduction in energy consumption. This ranking has held from last week, when the month-long competition reached its midway point. PEA’s first week results were 7.8%, fifth place, respectively. Currently, the top three ranking schools are Holderness (15.8%); Millbrook (15.5%); and Darrow School (10.9%).*See complete results below.
On February 20, Exeter held its first Eco-Trivia Night, a game of sustainability trivia, with more than 20 students on six teams competing for food vouchers and gift certificates from on campus facilities and local businesses. Teams answered more than 40 questions on global warming, energy efficiency, human consumption trends and tips, and global resources.
Exeter’ Environmental Action Committee members and the Environmental Proctors held a talk last week, with Cornell University earth & atmospheric sciences professor, Rick Allmendinger. He spoke on the relationship between the energy crisis and global warming.
For the first time, from the 15 participating schools, GCC has selected a logo from student artwork submissions. The chosen logo came from 20 student entries during this year’s competition. The winning artist is Monica Zhou, an 11th grader from The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. Sustainability Coordinator Jennifer Wilhelm is eager to put the selected artwork to good use. “We wanted a logo that would give a face to our environmental efforts to not only conserve electricity, but to also address our dependence on natural resources,” she says.
Wilhelm also has plans ready for next year’s conservation event. “In order to build a stronger sense of collaboration and include schools in a variety of geographic regions with differing climates, the plan is to change the competition aspect of the challenge,” she says. “Depending upon how many schools we have involved in the event next year, we can then determine a realistic goal of energy conservation and work to meet it. This will be a positive change because it will allow more schools to work together toward a common goal instead of competing against each other. We want everyone’s individual effort to collectively count. This will also give us a greater opportunity to educate the community about global climate change and the impact of everyone's individual behaviors."
This year’s competition included more than 12,000 school community members from 15 schools and seven states, who participated in the month-long interscholastic, energy conservation contest.
This year, participating schools in the Northeast include: Phillips Academy, in Andover, MA; Choate Rosemary Hall, in Wallingford, CT; Darrow School, in New Lebanon, NY; Deerfield Academy, in Deerfield, MA; Holderness School, in Holderness, NH; The Hotchkiss School, in Lakeville, CT; The Lawrenceville School, in Lawrenceville, NJ; Millbrook School, in Millbrook, NY; Northfield Mt. Hermon School in Northfield, MA; Phillips Exeter Academy, in Exeter, NH; Proctor Academy, in Andover, NH; The Putney School, in Putney, VT; St. George’s School, in Newport, RI; Stoneleigh-Burnham, in Greenfield, MA; and St. Paul’s School, in Concord, NH.
*Week Three Results:
1. Holderness: 15.8%
2. Millbrook: 15.5%
3. Darrow: 10.9%
4. Exeter: 8.5%
5. Lawrenceville: 5.9%
6. Proctor: 5.2%
7. Putney: 4.7%
8. Andover: 3.8%
9. St. George's: 1.7%
10. Deerfield: 1.4%
11. NMH: 0.6%
12. St. Paul's: 0.42%
13. Choate: 3.8% increase
14: Hotchkiss: 4.1% increase
15. Stoneleigh Burnham: 4.3% increase
A complete listing of public GCC events can be found at http://www.exeter.edu/comm/866_5083.aspx. More information can be found on each participating school at http://www.exeter.edu/comm/866_4267.aspx. Each school’s GCC video can be seen at http://www.exeter.edu/comm/866_4271.aspx. For more information about the Green Cup Challenge, contact PEA Sustainability Coordinator Jennifer Wilhelm at (603) 777-3765. A complete list of upcoming events is available on the Phillips Exeter Academy public events line at (603) 777-4309, and on our website at http://www.exeter.edu/.
Phillips Exeter Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory school that was founded in 1781 and originated the system of instruction known as Harkness teaching in 1931. In the spirit of its charter to foster both goodness and knowledge, students come from a wide variety of geographic, economic, racial and religious backgrounds. The diverse student body comes from approximately 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, The Virgin Islands and 26 foreign countries.