Lexington One Students Finish First in Statewide Energy Challenge

 

LEXINGTON, S.C. — Lexington County School District One congratulates four students from Meadow Glen Elementary School who placed first in the EnlightenSC Energy Challenge that was conducted as part of the 2016 South Carolina 4-H Engineering Challenge, held April 9 at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College in Orangeburg.

 

MGES Fifth-Graders Hailey Burrell, Cady Simril, Jane Taylor and Saniya Williams worked as a team in researching how to design an energy-efficient home, then creating a blueprint and scale model of the home for the state competition. The competition required students to design a layout for the home and surrounding property that maximizes the amount of natural light that brightens the residence while also ensuring that the residence is comfortable to live in and cost efficient to cool, heat and light.

 

Students were also required to incorporate an energy-crop garden in the design for their energy-efficient home. The garden produces crops, such as corn, that are used to help manufacture energy fuels while also recovering energy and nutrients from food waste that improve the fertility of the garden’s soil.

 

The competition criteria encouraged students to incorporate renewable energy sources, such as solar panels and skylights, in the design of their energy-efficient home in order to reduce the amount of electricity that is used to cool, heat and light the residence. Students were asked to use only recycled or repurposed materials, such as old camera film, to create solar panels and skylights for their scale model home.

 

During the competition, judges evaluated entries based on their beauty, creative design, creative use of recycled and repurposed materials, energy efficiency and cost effectiveness. Students had to explain their design choices to judges as part of the competition.

 

The Energy Challenge enhances students’ interest in energy architecture as well as their understanding of how to design and build homes and surrounding gardens that are sustainable and energy efficient.

 

MGES Fifth-Grade Teacher Casey Davis mentored Burrell, Simril, Taylor and Williams in creating their winning entry in the Energy Challenge.

 

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Photograph caption: Lexington County School District One congratulates four students from Meadow Glen Elementary School who placed first in the EnlightenSC Energy Challenge that was conducted as part of the 2016 South Carolina 4-H Engineering Challenge, held April 9 at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College in Orangeburg. MGES Fifth-Graders Hailey Burrell, Saniya Williams, Cady Simril and Jane Taylor (l–r) worked as a team in researching how to design an energy-efficient home, then creating a blueprint and scale model of the home for the state competition.