Maui Students Head to Washington, Earn Award for Clean Energy Project

Students pictured: Riley Agtaguem; Luca Connor; Katelyn Gicale-Emden; Kaya Leonard; Cole LoGrande; Lily Oldham; and Teiva Miller.

A group of 6th graders from Lokelani Intermediate will travel to Washington DC this week to attend a national awards program for a Clean Energy project they completed during the spring.

Sixth grade science teacher Zayna Stoycoff ran the after school STEM class called The Clean Energy Group and will be traveling with five students to the mainland for the awards ceremony.

As part of their project, the students created an Energy Smart Box with a corresponding mobile app that alerts customers to the real time cost of using various types of energy.  The box also allows customers to set programs to determine which electrical sources are needed and at which times.  The goal was to convince citizens to use clean energy at its peak availability.

The group was chosen by the National Energy Education Development or NEED project as the winner of the Hawaiʻi Junior Rookie of the Year award recipient.

Students pictured: Riley Agtaguem; Luca Connor; Katelyn Gicale-Emden; Kaya Leonard; Cole LoGrande; Lily Oldham; and Teiva Miller.

The NEED Youth Awards program runs from June 23-27, 2016 in Washington DC.  During their visit, the group will have the opportunity to meet with staff from Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard’s office.

“I’m very proud of this group of 11- and 12-years-olds, they bring a lot of pride to us at Lokelani,” said Stoycoff.

Students involved in the project included: Riley Agtaguem; Luca Connor; Katelyn Gicale-Emden; Kaya Leonard; Cole LoGrande; Lily Oldham and Teiva Miller.

The project also used materials from the NEED Project, Maui Economic Development Board, Women in Technology and support from high school mentors.