Vermont Business Magazine Hartland Elementary School will be celebrating their big Way to Go! School Challenge win from last fall, an AllEarth Renewables Solar Tracker, with a ribbon cutting onMay 22 at 1:45. About 9,000 students, faculty and staff participated in last fall's Way to Go! School Challenge from 48 schools across the state. There was a 23% increase in school participation from 2016. Hartland Elementary was one of the schools that met the 50 percent participation criteria to be eligible to win the Solar Tracker.
"Hartland Elementary School is extremely excited to be the winner of the 2017 Way to Go! School Challenge. We are thrilled to have solar at our school and look forward to teaching our students about the role of solar energy in creating a more sustainable community,” said Principal, Christine Bourne. David Blittersdorf, President and CEO of AllEarth Renewables, shared in the sentiment. “We're happy to be able to award our solar tracker to a school that has demonstrated its commitment to and awareness of energy use around transportation -- which can be significant in our mostly rural state. Encouraging teachers and students to choose more efficient transportation options is a great first step to life-long change. My hope is that everyone continues to carpool, walk, bike, and take the bus as often as they can, to grow the transition to cleaner, affordable and more reliable public transit”.
The celebration will begin outside at the solar tracker at1:45 pmon May 22nd. The school community is invited to join to help celebrate our efforts to travel more sustainably.
Many schools went above and beyond in their efforts to drive participation and reduce carbon pollution this year. Designed to encourage a culture of shared mobility, the Way to Go! School Challenge seeks to get peoplemoving, support cleaner air and reduce fossil fuel consumption. To learn more about Way to Go! To School efforts in the state, go towww.waytogovt.org.
The 2017 Way to Go! School Challenge Award Winners included: Super Carbon Cutter Award/AllEarth Renewables Solar Trackerto Hartland Elementary; Super Carbon Cutter Award/Bike Racks to Twinfield US #33; Carbon Cup to Isle La Motte Elementary; Carbon Cutting Leader for Best Participation in a Rural Area to Isle La Motte Elementary; Carbon Cutting Leader for Best Participation in a City Area to Northwest Primary School; Carbon Cutting Leader for Highest Percentage on Bus to Concord Grade/Middle School; Carbon Cutting Leader for Highest Participation Walking, Biking & Rolling to Isle La Motte Elementary; Carbon Cutting Leader for Best Photo or Video to Frederick H Tuttle Middle School; Carbon Cutting Leader for 2nd Highest Participation Overall to Essex Elementary School; Carbon Cutting Leader for Strong Leadership to Mary Hogan School.