Tremont Students Present Their Research To Local Leaders

The Tremont 7th and 8th grade classes created an Energy Audit presentation, based on their research into how the school is using and expending energy in the forms of heat and electricity. They worked throughout the school to gather data and interpret it before presenting their findings and recommendations to members of the Tremont School Board and the Tremont Sustainability Committee.

The project is a collaboration between Tonya Prentice, the Tremont middle school science teacher, Andrew Simon for Healthy Acadia, and Isi Munoz, who works for JustME for JustUS. This experiential learning opportunity has made it possible for students to engage directly with their environment and their community by understanding more about how their school operates and sharing their perspectives with adults in Tremont working to plan for the future.

After months of research in every room of the school building, measuring temperatures, counting the number of fluorescent light bulbs, and recording which appliances were using the most electricity, the students used their time together in class to make a powerpoint presentation in which they introduced each slide and took questions from the audience.

On January 14th, they were joined by school board members and the town manager and formally presented their findings and recommendations to the community members that will make the budgetary choices impacting their health and well-being. The students responded to follow-up inquiries and sparked discussions about the next steps for the future they’ll be inheriting in the town of Tremont.

The following evening, several students shared the work of the class with the Tremont Sustainability Committee and members of the public at the Bass Harbor Memorial Library. This event expanded on the work in the classroom and brought the town and its representatives into a deeper engagement with the potential changes that the students had initiated. The committee responded with clarifying questions, ideas, and suggestions in response to their findings and recommendations and the event concluded with thoughtful comments from the public, offering the perspectives of several representatives from the school district, including the Tremont Consolidated School principal, Jandrea True.

This work highlights the value of intergenerational collaborations that bring together municipal, educational, and nonprofit leaders to amplify the voices of the youngest citizens in Tremont. The commitment to creating a healthier, sustainable, resilient future for this community is made through partnerships like these, which recognize that the engagement and guidance of local youth is essential in designing the future in which they will become the next generation of local leaders.