By Dan Adkins

MALLARD POINT – A U.S. Education Department official visited two Scott County schools Wednesday to congratulate students, teachers and custodians for successfully reducing energy costs.

“Here in Scott County, you’ve been very resourceful... We’re really excited to see the fantastic work you’ve been doing,” federal Green Ribbon Schools Program Director Andrea Falken told Northern Elementary School Principal Judi Hunter, Scott County Schools Energy Management Director Jim McClanahan and other school personnel.

Also visiting the school were state Sen. Damon Thayer and state Reps. Ryan Quarles, Brian Linder and Tom McKee.

“It’s really important to us to teach” students about the wise use and conservation of energy, Hunter said.

Northern’s program has been so successful, McClanahan said, that the school has gone from scoring the worst among Scott County’s schools for energy use a few years ago to now leading the district.

“The students here said, ‘We don’t want to be last. We want to be best,’” he said.

Northern’s Energy Star program has been so successful that three of its students went to Washington, D.C., earlier this summer to be recognized by the Green Ribbon Schools program.

Hunter identified the students as Emma Baize, Mathew Detzel and Lance Bruin. They were accompanied by fourth-grade science teacher Elizabeth Cook, who coordinates Northern’s student-led energy team, and parent Crystal Detzel.

Also visiting Northern and Georgetown Middle School – a 60-plus year old building that has reduced annual greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent – were officials from the Kentucky Environmental Education Council, the Kentucky School Board Association, the Kentucky National Energy Education Development program and school district administrators.

Falken and the other dignitaries toured the buildings and heard presentations from students about their schools’ programs.

The Green Ribbon Schools program recognizes schools that reduce energy costs and environmental impact; improve health and wellness of students, teachers and staff; and provide environmental education with a focus on science, technology, engineering and math.

Falken said her visit to Scott County was part of a tour of five Green Ribbon-award winning schools in Central Kentucky, including three in Lexington. She also will visit award winning schools in West Virginia, Florida, Colorado and Minnesota.