Greenlight Award Finals 2020

April 22, 2020 by

Congratulations 2020 Greenlight Award Teams!

Forty students from six different area high schools participated in Bedford 2020’s 5th annual Greenlight Award Finals on Sunday morning in two Zoom sessions that ran simultaneously for over three hours each.

We congratulate all the teams who should feel proud of all they accomplished!

Starting in fall 2019, each of these teams put together a project proposal, incorporated feedback from evaluators and modified their plans, moved ahead to implement goals, pivoted as needed to new goals or strategies. Even in the face of a global pandemic lockdown, many contestants moved forward. In April 2020, these teams submitted impressive presentations and expertly fielded questions from the judges at the finals!

Fourteen judges joined to watch, question, and evaluate the fifteen projects and their impact on the environment.

Teams competed in one of two categories — Advocacy or Innovation — and winning teams were awarded cash prizes of up to $1,000.

Click here to read more about the contestants and click on the project titles below to view the student presentations.

Innovation Category

Flue Energy Harvesting – 1st place
Food Wastage App – 2nd place
Solar Powered Battery Station – 3rd place
PV Charging Stations

Advocacy Category

True Bamboo – 1st place
Roll to Reuse – 2nd place (tie)
John Jay High School Sustainability Week – 2nd place (tie)
Lil Planters – 3rd place (tie)
Recycle Right with Riley – 3rd place (tie)
Ardsley Community Garden
Carbon Free BCSD
Forks for our Future
Ride and Reduce
Solar Greenhouse
Stop Your Engines!

1st Place Advocate – TrueBamboo

2nd Place Advocate (tie) – Roll to Reuse

2nd Place Advocate (tie) – JJHS Sustainability Week

1st Place Innovator – Flue Energy Harvesting

 

Filed Under: Greenlight

2020 Greenlight Finals Info

March 24, 2020 by

Big green ideas will be celebrated at the Finals
Sunday, April 19th – via Zoom!

In this challenging time where no one can meet in person or go to school, we understand that many of the Greenlight Award projects have come to a screeching halt. However, we still want to hear from our teams to see what they had planned and to see if they were able to move their project forward before or during this crisis.

OVERVIEW

Finalists will present the results of their Greenlight Award projects before panels of judges on the morning of Sunday, April 19 via Zoom. All participants and the public are invited to participate in the virtual event.

Presentations will be 3 to 5 minutes long and Judges have 5-10 minutes to ask questions. Judges will use the Finals Score Sheet to score the projects.

Since the finals will be held via Zoom, there will only be one round of scoring. The highest scoring teams win cash prizes and others will receive special recognition for specific efforts.. Winners and honorable mention categories will be announced during the week after the final evaluations are completed.

Finalists, please fill out the final update form online and upload all presentation materials to this Dropbox folder and remember to name your files using your team name.

DUE DATES

April 3 Submit project photos via email
April 8 Final Report
April 10 Submit slide presentation
April 15Have an adult email us to verify they gave your team
feedback on your presentation
April 15Submit video presentation (use Screencastify.com)
April 16Submit project flyer (click here for examples)
TBDSign up for time slot for April 19 Finals (link coming soon)
April 19Zoom Finals (link and instructions coming soon)

FINAL REPORT

This online report is similar to the project proposal and mid-way reports that you have already done. Click here to access the online form and submit by April 8th.

SLIDE PRESENTATION

Please create a 3 to 5 minute slide presentation using Power Point, Google Slides, Prezi (or other) to showcase your project and submit it by April 10 to the Dropbox folder. Then make a video of your team presenting the slideshow using the website Screencastify.com (more about this below).

Include information the judges will need to give you a score on the Finals Score Sheet (use this as you would a rubric at school) and put your project into context so people who don’t know anything about it will understand it.

  1. What is the environmental problem you addressed?
  2. To address this problem, what behavior did you set out to change? What invention/innovation did you create to bring about a change?Among whom?
  3. What were your goals?
  4. What are your results?
  5. How did you achieve this? Explain your strategy and your tactics or tools you used or created to carry this out.
  6. Be sure to demonstrate at least one tactic or tool that you used that was unique and that might possibly be replicated, adopted, or continue to be used, or that brought attention to your project in a unique way. 
  7. How did you use your budget and available resources?
  8. Evaluate the overall short-term and potential long-term impact of your project. Make an argument why your idea could make a real difference.

Tips

  • Keep slides simple, not too many words. Not everything you say when you present should be included on the actual slide.
  • If you created materials for your project, show photos of the materials, events, and activities. If the materials you created include a video, you may show it as a part of your presentation to the judges on Zoom.
  • Your slide presentation can be no longer than 5 minutes. 
  • Practice before someone who evaluates your presentation using the Final Score Sheet to make sure you address all criteria.
  • A strong presentation will quantify results and activities. Include number of people who changed behavior or any data you collected testing your invention; you could also cite number of articles you got in school newsletter, number of people who attended an event or joined your coalition, number of social media posts, shares and likes, etc.
  • Remember you can get an extra point for showing your presentation to an adult, getting feedback. We recommend you set up to FaceTime with your advisor or other faculty member to do this. Ask the person to email ellen.calves@bedford2020 by April 15 to acknowledge that they heard/saw your presentation and gave you feedback. If you cannot find someone to do this, let us know and we can provide a volunteer.
  • When submitting your slide presentation please name it using this format: Team Name_Slides

VIDEO RECORDING

Please create a video recording of your final presentation using the website Screencastify and submit it via Dropbox by April 15. Please try to keep it between 3 and 5 minutes. The judges will watch your video prior to asking you questions at the finals.

Tips

  • Use the free version of Screencastify to create your video.
  • The record option allows you to use your webcam and microphone to record. It can also capture things in a website tab and on the whole screen in addition to the webcam.
  • The edit tool allows you to merge videos together, in case you have a video you want to include in your presentation. You are able to cut, rearrange, delete and crop clips through this tool. The option to overlay text also exists.
  • Recordings are saved to your Google drive for easy submission.
  • You can record up to a 5 minute video using Screencastify. 
  • When submitting your video to Dropbox, please label the file name using the following format: Team Name_Video Presentation

PROJECT FLYER

Please create a PDF of a project flyer to convince the judges that your project is a great solution to the environmental problems that we face. Submit a pdf via Dropbox by April 16. Include:

  1. Highlight what you created
  2. The actual results of your project
  3. The potential impact of your project

Tips

  • Include photos of your team working on your project, at an event, or of your project in action.
  • Canva.com or other software is helpful and templates are available.
  • See the Former Greenlight Projects to see examples of past project flyers.
  • Please submit your flyer as a PDF and name it using this format: Team Name_Flyer

We look forward to seeing you on Zoom on April 19th. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!

Filed Under: Greenlight

Greenlight Award™ Faculty Info

September 16, 2019 by

Students meeting with faculty and community experts to develop project proposals.

About the Greenlight Award™

The Bedford 2020 Greenlight Award challenges high school students to find a behavior change solution to an environmental problem and develop a project that catalyzes that change. Students enter the contest with an Advocacy or Innovation project. We hope students and faculty from all subject areas will get involved!

Who should participate?

High school students (ideally grades 9-11) and student clubs or classes looking for school-year-long project. The program enables problem-based learning, project execution, real-world application and evaluation. These are key experiences to add to a college application and also create resilient leaders.

What does it involve?

Friendly competition inspires students to get involved with the allure of the Greenlight Award and up to a $1,000 cash prize for the most impactful projects.

Students designed anti-idling signs and ran awareness and incentive campaign at Horace Greeley High School.

  • Students participate for an average of 1-2 hours per week between November and April.
  • Bedford 2020 provides a timeline, kickoff information and resources, feedback and two exciting competition events.
  • Faculty advisors help facilitate communication as needed with Bedford 2020, review student submissions, and are encouraged to attend the two major events.

Please visit the Greenlight Toolkit for more information about the contest.

Introduce the Greenlight Award to your students!

If you know of students who would benefit from this program, please encourage them to check out the website and sign up online to participate.

  • Click here for the Kickoff Presentation (7 minutes) to show to your classes and at club meetings. (or try this version).
  • Click here for a Google Drive packet of materials to accompany the kickoff presentation, including: a flyer, a handout, guiding questions to get students brainstorming, sample proposal form and poster requirements, something to post on social media, and info about being a faculty advisor.
  • Encourage students to sign up online and we will send them more resources and information.

Please contact us with any questions.

Greenlight Award Winners with their Faculty Advisor

Filed Under: Greenlight

General Faculty Resources

May 29, 2019 by

Students meeting with faculty and community experts to develop project proposals.

About the Greenlight Award™

Bedford 2020 is looking for students who want to make a difference in their community.  Students can enter the contest with an Advocacy or Innovation project. We hope students and faculty from all subject areas will get involved!

Who should participate?

High school students (ideally grades 9-11). The program enables problem-based learning, project execution, real-world application and evaluation. These are key experiences to add to a college application and also create resilient leaders.

What does it involve?

The Bedford 2020 Greenlight Award challenges high school students to find a behavior change solution to an environmental problem and develop a project that catalyzes that change.

Friendly competition inspires students to get involved with the allure of the Greenlight Award and up to a $1,000 cash prize for the most impactful projects.

Students designed anti-idling signs and ran awareness and incentive campaign at Horace Greeley High School.

  • Students participate for an average of 1-2 hours per week between November and April.
  • Bedford 2020 provides a timeline, kickoff information and resources, the initial proposal form, feedback on the project ideas, check in reports, scoring criteria, and hosts the final event.

please visit the Greenlight Toolkit for more information about the contest.

Promote the Greenlight Award to your students!

Please announce this opportunity to your classes. If you know of students who would be interested in or would benefit from this program, encourage them to check out the website and sign up online to participate.

  • Click here for a flyer to share with students.
  • Click here for the Kickoff Presentation (7 minutes) to show to your classes. (if Vimeo is blocked by your school firewall, try this version).
  • Click here for the packet of materials to accompany the kickoff presentation. This contains a flyer, a handout, guiding questions to get students brainstorming, sample proposal form, and info about being a faculty advisor.

Please contact us with any questions.

 

Back to Greenlight Homepage

Filed Under: Greenlight

Faculty Advisor Resources

May 29, 2019 by

All student teams are encouraged to find a faculty advisor at their school. The faculty advisor offers feedback and helps with communication between students and Bedford 2020. We welcome advisors to remind students about resources and deadlines, attend the events, and help students get attention from stakeholders and the school community.

We greatly appreciate the support of the faculty advisors for our inspiring Greenlight Award™ leaders. Thank you!

Dear Faculty Advisors…

Above is a letter for all Faculty Advisors to read and print, describing the ways in which advisors are expected to support students throughout the contest, as well as the many ways Bedford 2020 provides support.

For information about promoting the contest to students, go to our General Faculty Resources page.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Finalists and Faculty Mentors at the 2017 Final Event

Resources for Greenlight Competitors can be found in our Toolkit

In addition to the many opportunities for feedback and help, the Greenlight Toolkit has forms, inspiration and resources for participants. Deadlines for this years contest are found under the Summary of the Competition in the Toolkit.

Filed Under: Greenlight

Finalists Exhibit Leadership and Persistence for Change

April 10, 2019 by

Make conscious cafeteria choices; skip the straw; pack zero waste lunches, use reusable water bottles….

These and other green behaviors were the focus of the 30 students who made up the final teams in Bedford 2020’s fourth annual Greenlight Award contest sponsored by Curtis Instruments.

Each year, Bedford 2020 provides a framework and workshops for all participants in the program, and after the finalists are chosen at round one, they receive funding and support to carry out their projects. At the final event, the finalists present their results and are celebrated for their efforts.

A panel of judges challenges the students with follow up questions and scores each project. The highest scoring group is awarded $500 and the coveted Greenlight Award, and the runner up receives a $250 cash prize.

On April 8, six teams from five high schools inspired the crowd at the final event in the Hayloft at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture with their presentations about what they did to the change behavior of at least 20 people at least 20 times to benefit the environment. The teams showcased their projects, highlighting the problem they addressed, the behavior they changed, the strategies and tactics they used, and the results they tracked.

And now for the winners…

Change the World One Meal at a Time

Peter Nicholas, a 9th grader at Rye Country Day School, tied for first place with “Change The World One Meal at a Time.”

Problem/Solution/Behavior Change

Peter set out to tackle the problem of pollution and wasted resources associated with factory farming. The solution, to get people to reduce their meat consumption, led him to get his peers and teachers to choose plant based meals one or more days per week.

Strategies/Tactics

Peter used a variety of behavior change strategies. He held a contest, offered incentives, and used posters and social media to raise awareness, educate, and promote the contest to get students and teachers to choose plant-based meals instead of meals with meat.

Results

Peter worked closely with the cafeteria staff at RCDS to find out how much meat was served each week, recording data and tracking trends. He also had people fill out “veggie slips” to track how many people swapped meat based meals for plant based meals. Peter reported that at least 53 people swapped meat for veggies at least 20 times. In fact, he reported that 2843 meals were swapped, and meat served in the cafeteria was reduced by 376 lbs in the first 12 days of the contest.

Conscious Cafeteria

Horace Greeley High School 10th graders, Lori Saxena, Caroline Lerner, Caroline Gershman, Alexandra Fitzgerald, Reilly Carter and Anna Hallac, also tied for first place with Conscious Cafeteria.

Problem/Solution/Behavior Change

The students sought to address the problem that food is responsible for “about 17% of global carbon emissions.” Their solution was to raise the consciousness of community members about food choice and to encourage people to change their behavior and buy local food whenever possible.

Strategies/Tactics

The Conscious Cafeteria team created hydroponic structures to grow their own lettuce, engaging over 70 students in the project. They mounted an active social media, poster campagin, and community outreach campaign to raise awareness and to obtain pledges from community members.

Results

300 people pledged to buy more local food. Based on a survey distributed at school, 70% of respondents reported they have been thinking more carefully about where their food is coming from, and 75% respondents would like to help maintain the hydroponics structure. The team also reperted that the sale of local food is up in the cafeteria and by serving hydroponic lettuce, 2.56 tonnes of CO2 will be saved per week.

Reusable Water Bottle Campaign

The Reusable Water Bottle Campaign by the Harvey School Environmental Club, Ella Weinstein, Naomi Listokin, Ryan Marder and Andrew Leibowitz, received the runner up designation.

Problem/Solution/Behavior Change

The students sought to address plastic pollution by reducing the number of plastic water bottles sold at their school. Their behavior change campaign sought to have students to re-fill water bottles instead.

Strategies/Tactics

Their strategy involved education through presentations, social media, and posters along with making the desired behavior change easier and more desirable by raising money and convincing their school to replace two old water fountains with new, water-filtering, bottle refilling stations. The team also held a design contest and sold water bottles with the winning logo on them to encourage communtiy participation.

Results

The team used an app called Plant Nanny that a focus group of 22 students used to record every time they filled up their water bottle. The group showed they repeated their behavior at least 20 times. Once the first water bottle refilling station was installed, nearly 350 bottles were refilled in only two weeks. With the installation of the second station, the team reported that reusable water bottle use is continuing to increase.

Honorable Mentions

Worm Warriors

Fox Lane High School’s Worm Warrior team engaged 21 classrooms of elementary school students in vermicomposting at Mount Kisco Elementary School.

Participants included Sophia Trejo, Nataly Naranjo, Ariana Jade Ford, Daisy Cruz, Lesli Rodriguez, Vanessa Lopez, AMy Guerra, Heber Perez, Renzo Romero, and Eric Sagastume.

The team educated the students in both English and Spanish about the importance of compost and how to feed and maintain their classroom bins. The rich compost created by their worms will not be sent to the landfill or incinerator, but will be used in the Mount Kisco Elementary School garden this spring.

Skip the Straw

To address the problem of plastic pollution, Skip the Straw focused on reducing the use of plastic straws through the use of incentives, social media, and general awareness tactics at Fox Lane High School. Participants, all freshmen, included Marjory Lopez, Alva Crisostomo, Karen Carchipulla, Melany Giron, Mireyli Morales, Rudy Perez, Josh Ortiz, and Melany Hernandez.

Zero Waste Lunches

This Mamaroneck High School freshman, Anna McDonald, educated over 650 students in 6 different assemblies she held at Chatsworth Avenue Elementary School about plastic waste and composting. She worked with her school district to help bring school-wide composting to the school and recruited students to help with compliance in the cafeteria.

Holding a Zero Waste Lunch Day, Anna showed how packing zero waste lunches combined with composing and recycling can lead to a resulting mere 12% of trash!

Congratulations to All Finalists!

According to Bedford 2020 Board Member Jim Wood who was in the audience at the event, “Those who presented clearly learned so much in the process – how to stand on their own two feet and not only present, but also to respond to the questions raised by the judges in an awe inspiring location. Not only that, they had to coordinate and work together on their projects, challenge their superiors as well as their peers, undertake research, create materials, etc. Bravo to all, and to Curtis for their sponsorship!”

By the finals, each team implemented their projects and proved they catalyzed behavior change through their leadership, creativity, and determination. They have all learned so much since the first Incubator Workshop and have all done a great service to their community. We thank them! This group deserves a lot of praise and we know they will be formidable leaders for our future.

We are extremely proud of all the participants and look forward to engaging even more students next year.

Click here for more information about the Greenlight Award.

Judges and Finalists of the 2018-2019 Greenlight Award ProgramPhotos by Sherry Wolf

Greenlight Award Finals Judges Geoffrey Morris of Town Vibe Media, Dani Glaser of Green Business Challenge and Jeff Tannenbaum of Titan Grove, PaceNation, and S-Power

Change the World One Meal at a Time led a passionate campaign to get people to switch from meat based to plant based eating at Rye Country Day School

Conscious Cafeteria built a hydroponic growing system and moved their community to make more sustainable and local food choices

Conscious Cafeteria’s hydroponic lettuce

The Harvey School Environmental Club worked to change the culture of disposable plastic water bottle use at their school with the Reusable Water Bottle Campaign

The Fox Lane Worm Warriors brought worm composting to twenty-one classrooms at Mount Kisco Elementary School

Fox Lane freshmen taught people in their school about plastic pollution and encouraged them to Skip the Straw

Zero Waste Lunches taught over 650 students at Chatsworth Elementary School about plastic pollution and helped dramatically reduce waste in their school cafeteria.

Filed Under: Greenlight

Round One 2018-2019 Project Proposals

December 19, 2018 by

Project Summaries

Finalists

*Conscious Cafeteria

Team: Lori Saxena, Caroline Lerner, Caroline Gershmanm, Alexandra Fitzgerald, Reilly Carter, Anna Hallac
School: Horace Greeley High School
Advisor: MaryRose Joseph

This team will address the problem that livestock agriculture produces around a half of all man-made emissions by encouraging consciously raised and locally sourced food through an awareness campaign and by building a hydroponic gardening system to grow lettuce for their school cafeteria.

*H20MG

Team: Amy Zapata
School: Yonkers Middle High School
Advisor: Jacob Schofield, YPIE

This team will raise awareness about lead levels in the water in the Yonkers Middle High School and finding a solution to provide safe, clean drinking water without resorting to plastic water bottles. By meeting with administrators, using social media, and contacting the media, this team will push for solutions such as the installation of new water fountains that filter lead with water bottle refilling features. When the machine is installed, the team will not only bring awareness to the lead problem, but will also have created a plastic-free solution for people refill water bottles.

*Change the World One Meal At a Time

Team: Peter Nicholas and RCDS Environmental Club
School: Rye Country Day School
Advisor: Kerry Linderoth

To address the problem of factory farming and the pollution and waste of resources it produces, this team will work to raise awareness through social media, a poster campaign and a school-wide “eat vegan” competition to get participants to decrease the amount of meat they eat.

photo by Sherry Wolf

*Reusable Water Bottle Campaign and Education

Team: Ella Weinstein, Naomi Listokin, Ryan Marder, and Andrew Leibowitz
School: The Harvey School
Advisor: Alexandra Matthews

This environmental club aims to decrease the amount of plastic waste on campus by increasing awarenss about plastic bottles with a “Harvey Green Education Program,” holding a contest, giving presentations, selling reusable water bottles. They have already started the process with their school administration for approval to purchase and to have the school install a water bottle refilling machine to change the plastic bottle culutre and increase reusable water bottle use in their school.

*Straw Free

Team: Marjory Lopez, Alva Crisostomo, Mireyli Morales, Karen Carchipulla, Melany Hernandez, Melany Giron, Josh Ortiz, Rudy Perez, Daniel Rojas
School: Fox Lane High School
Advisor: Anita Rivera

It’s estimated that 500 million straws are used in the United States every day and this plastic pollution endangeres our wildlife and human beings as well. This team will address the number of plastic straws that are used at Fox Lane High School and reduce that number of straws used and disposed of with signs, tabling and social media, shocking statistics, a pledge, and incentives.

*Worm Warriors

Team: Sophia Trejo, Nataly Naranjo, Lesli Rodriguez, Daisy Quijada, Eric Sagastume, Heber Perez, Renzo Romero, Amy Guerra, Ariana-Jade Ford, Vanessa Lopez
School: Fox Lane High School
Advisor: Anita Rivera

This team will encourage the community at Mount Kisco Elementary School to become more aware of the importance of composting and will also produce compost for the school garden. This team creates worm composting bins and delivers them to classrooms at MKES. They talk about composting with the classes and teach the teachers and the students how to care for the worms who make compost. They have created a “how to” sheet in English and Spanish for the teachers and students and want to continue this initiative to teach families about vermicomposting. Their project will decrease food waste at MKES and turn it into a useful product that can help grow food.

*Zero Waste Lunch

Team: Anna McDonald
School: Mamaroneck High School
Advisor: Katy Andersen, Chatsworth Elementary Principal

This team will address the problem of food waste and packaging waste by encouraging Chatsworth Elementary students to pack environmetnally friendly lunches and reduce leftover food waste. The team has already established a relationship with the elementary school and permission to work with students. The team will create a video, do classroom presentations and work with student leaders and the PTA to promote the initaitive and will ultimately see less waste from school lunch.

photo by Sherry Wolf

Additional Round One Proposals

Cleaning Up Yonkers

Team: Citlalli Rojas, Evelyn Rios, Marla Wilson, Gabrielle Feliciano
School: Yonkers Public Schools
Advisor: Jake Schofield

This project addresses the growing environmental problem of plastic bags. This team will implement an education campaign in schools and throughout the communtiy to gain support for legislation to put a fee or ban on plastic bags in the City of Yonkers. They plan to continue to get signatures on a petition they initiatied this summer, create a website as a resource, and paint a wall mural.

Digital Food Bank

Team: Chris Picerni Mark Stevens Rashad Panton
School: John Jay High School
Advisor: Steven Zoeller

This team will create an app to assist people in donating and receiving food from area food banks.

JUSTWATER.

Team: Linda Zhang, Maggie Li
School: Horace Greeley High School
Advisor: Joseph Montuori

This team plans to reduce student purchases of plastic water bottles by encouraging an eco-friendly alternative – Just Water cartons of water – to reduce plastic pollution and carbon emissions. They plan to do this through an education and outreach campaign and by offering incentives.

Nature Guardians

Team: Rishabh Vuthamaraju, Evan Kistner, Michael Kistner, JonathanFrantz
School: John Jay High School
Advisor: Steven Zoeller

This team plans to make a gaming app that will teach people about the effects of their actions on the environment and suggest behavior changes for a greener planet.

Ossining Beach Project

Team: Andrea Doble, Brendan Gotay, Brandon Jones
School: Ossining High School
Advisor: Arthur Carlucci

This team wants to gain public support for opening of Ossining Beach for swimming in the Hudson River. They plan to bring awareness to this initiative through signs, presentations, a swim pledge, and addressing issues of concern such as littering.

Paul Runs

Team: Bryce BT, Bryce W, Michael M, Lucas G, & Shane D.
School: John Jay High School
Advisor: Steven Zoeller

This team proposes to create an app to inspire people to go outside and enjoy nature and become more aware of carbon emissions.

Reducing Emissions Through Carpooling

Team: Zach Eichenberg
School: Horace Greeley High School
Advisor: MaryRose Joseph

This team will work to reduce carbon emissions due to transportation to and from Greeley. By surveying the student body they will develop incentives and strategies to encourage walking and carpooling where possible. They anticipate using an app called GoKid to help coordinate carpooling among students.

Smart Batteries

Team: Mark, Oscar, Lucas, John, Tejas and Max
School: John Jay High School
Advisor: Zoeller

This team proposes to encourage people to adopt renewable energy, like solar panels, in their homes.

Soil Savers

Team: Tom Ye, Keegan Li
School: Horace Greeley High School
Advisor: MaryRose Joseph

This team wants to address unhealthy lawn ecosystems in Chappaqua. They propose to increase the use of eco-friendly lawn care, including mulching and composting by installing and maintaining landscape compost bins for the community to add to or take from, promoting the free mulch already available to residents, and conducting soil tests to prove mulching is good for landscapes.

Solar Powered Battery Charger

Team: Jackson Andrew, Chris Walsh
School: John Jay High School
Advisor: Steven Zoeller

This team plans to invent a product that recharges batteries using solar power and to ultimately give a presentation about their invention to promote this kind of renewable energy for both the environment and the economy.

Solar Cell Station

Team: Sydney Aronson, Sarah Antunes, Jordan Sandell
School: John Jay High School
Advisor: Steven Zoeller

This team proposes to create solar charging stations for cell phones to install in the cafeteria at JJHS. This will demonstrate renewable energy right in the school while saving fossil fuel energy.

Straight Outta Compost

Team: Eleanor Lynch, Riley Card, Mia Scott, Gregory Caesar, Luca Sonne
School: Horace Greeley High School
Advisor: MaryRose Joseph

Using print posters and outreach and holding and event called Greeley Composting Week, this team will sell compost kits and inspire New Castle and Greeley students to start composting to decrease food waste and promote green habits like gardening.
Filed Under: Greenlight

Greenlight Award Finalists Announced

December 18, 2018 by

The Bedford 2020 Greenlight Award Round One Expo was an inspiring event on Saturday! With 19 teams from 8 high schools showcasing their green behavior-change ideas, the teams demonstrated just the kind of innovation, passion, and leadership that we need in our world for a sustainable future!

Bedford 2020 will fund the 7 highest-scoring projects and help connect them with expert support as they carry out their plans.

The finalists will present their results on April 8th at the final event in the Hayloft at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills. The best-executed projects will win the Greenlight Award and cash prizes.

Thank you to the students, faculty, judges, volunteers, Bedford Central School District and Curtis Instruments for your participation and support!  Thank you to our photographer, Sherry  Wolf for most of the photos that follow.

Congratulations 2018-2019 Finalists

Conscious Cafeteria, Horace Greeley High School

H20MG, Yonkers Middle High School

Change the World one Meal at a Time, Rye Country Day School

Reusable Water Bottle Campaign and Education, The Harvey School

Straw Free, Fox Lane High School

Worm Warriors, Fox Lane High School

Zero Waste Lunch, Mamaroneck High School

Click here to read summaries of all the projects
and to see photos from Round One.

Kathryn Perry, Sara Goddard, Kevin Brenner

THANK YOU!

Thank you students for your hard work and participation.

Thank you Judges!

  • Kevin Brenner, President of Healthy Home Energy and Consulting
  • Sara Goddard, Rye City Council Member and Founder of Friends of Rye Sustainability
  • Anne Jaffe-Holmes, Director of Programs at Federated Conservationists of Westchester County
  • Laura Kaplan, President of Rustics Garden Club

    Vinoj Siva, Veronique Pittman, and Anne Jaffe-Holmes

  • Peter McCartt, Westchester County Director of Energy Conservation and Sustainability
  • Chris Perry, Rippowam Cisqua teacher and 9th grade Dean
  • Kathryn Perry, Rippowam Cisqua teacher
  • Veronique Pittman, Green Schools Alliance and Bedford 2020 Advisory Board
  • Vinoj Siva, Manufacturing Engineer at Curtis Instruments

Click here to see the scoring criteria the judges used to score the projects at Round One.

Thank you to BCSD for hosting the Round One Event.

Thank you to our sponsor Curtis Instruments!

Chris Perry, Laura Kaplan, Midge Iorio, and Peter McCartt

Mark your calendar for the Final event on April 8th at Stone Barns!

 

Filed Under: Greenlight

High School Leaders Compete for Funding and Support From Bedford 2020

December 11, 2018 by

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

High school students representing eight Westchester schools will be competing on Saturday, December 15th, in the fourth annual Round One of the Greenlight Award.

The Greenlight Award is a contest that challenges high school students to lead a project to get people to change their behavior in a way that benefits the environment. Students pitch to a local environmental group, Bedford 2020, which selects the best ideas to fund and support. The most impactful team wins a cash prize at a final event in April.

During Round One, students come up with a behavior-change solution to an environmental problem in their community. In the past green ideas have included: an education campaign to discourage car idling, an incentive program for recycling, and a system to facilitate rainwater harvesting.

Round One contestants meet with community stakeholders, professionals and sustainability experts to assess the feasibility of their idea; write a proposal that includes a budget and project timeline; and teams pitch their idea and field questions from judges who are community leaders.

“The Greenlight Award program engages student participants in ways that encourage them to be innovators, project managers, and community leaders,” says Stuart Marwell, CEO of Curtis Instruments, corporate sponsor of this year’s Greenlight Award program. “We are looking forward to hearing their ideas and supporting these future environmental leaders.”

Up to seven teams advance to the Finals after Round One, and each team receives up to $1,000 in seed funding to carry out their project. The finalists continue to gain real world experience as they a lead a community-based initiative, problem-solve and measure their impact.

“Increasingly in the business and nonprofit world, ‘metrics’ are required to prove success, “according to Olivia Farr, chair of the Greenlight Award Steering Committee, “At the final event in April, students will show data to prove they changed at least 20 people’s behavior at least 20 times as they compete for the Greenlight Award and a $500 prize.”

On Saturday, nineteen teams will showcase their proposals at the Round One Expo at Fox Lane Middle School in Bedford from 9:00am until 11:00am. The event is free and open to the public to come visit the displays and ask the contestants questions about their big green ideas from 9am to 11am. Finalists and their funding grants will be announced the week of December 17.

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Bedford 2020 is a non-profit organization leading a grassroots effort in the Town of Bedford, NY to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2020 and to create a sustainable community that conserves natural resources. The Greenlight Award is a project of Bedford 2020 that engages students countywide in environmental innovation and leadership. More information is available at www.Bedford2020.org.

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Filed Under: Greenlight

Greenlight Award Timeline 2017-2018

October 12, 2017 by

 

GREENLIGHT AWARD 2017-2018 TIMELINE.

CHANGEMAKER 2020 

October 27th: Sign up to participate

November 1: Attend Incubator Workshop at Harvey

  • Participants meet with community experts, refine the direction of their project and learn about available resources and Round 1 requirements.

December 1: Project Proposal Form Due

  • This will be reviewed in advance by the Round 1 judges.

December 7: Power Point Presentation Due

  • Presentations must be submitted in advance via Dropbox for Round 1.

December 9: Round 1 at John Jay High School

  • Present before panel of judges. Students have 3 minutes to present and judges have 3 minutes to ask questions.

After Round 1

  • Finalists are selected to receive project seed-funding up to $1,000 and will have access to community experts to develop and pilot their ideas.

January 11: Incubator Workshop for Finalists at Rippowam Cisqua Upper School

  • Participants meet with community experts again to “hatch” their projects, receive training on data collection, and learn more about Finals requirements. Students receive one point on final presentation for attending this workshop.
  • Participants sign a Seed Funding Agreement and obtain info about how to get pre-approval for expenses and seed funding. Click here for purchase order.

March 7: Mid-Way Report Due online

  • Finalists submit report on the status of their project. Click here. Students earn one point on final score for timely submission of this mid-way report before midnight on March 7, 2018.

Finalists, click here for Finals Overview, Tips and Timeline

April 26: Final Presentation Practice and upload by April 29

  • Final Report and Power Point Presentations. Students will earn one point towards their final score for on-time submission of the final report and presentation before midnight on April 29, 2018. Link to submit audio or visual materials for final presentation here.
  • Students will earn one point for practicing their presentation with a faculty member (and having the faculty member email us that they did this prior to submission of Final presentation. Aim to do this by April 26 so you have time to make suggested changes before the Power Point is due by midnight on April 29.

May 1st: Final Round at 6:30pm at the Bedford Playhouse

  • Completed projects are presented at a community-wide Shark Tank event and Greenlight Award winner is selected. Click here for SCORE-IT score sheet.
  • Student presentations should be no longer than 5 minutes.
  • Student arrive by 6:15PM. You will be giving a presentation on stage before an audience.
  • Everyone who attends will be entered into our raffle to win prizes from area stores and restaurants.  Please invite friends and family!
  • The winning team receives $500 cash prize! Runner up $250 prize.
  • Students and faculty mentors are asked to come up on stage at the end of the event for photos and a short reception with the judges. All participants are presented with a certificate or recognition from Westchester County.
  • All finalists are celebrated and press release with project results and photos sent to media.

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Filed Under: Greenlight