CHARLES TWEED/Ponoka News
St. Augustine School was one of 20 schools chosen to participate in a high school energy literacy summit in Kananaskis.
Four students from St. Augustine — Nicole Beier, Deanna Henderson, Lisa-Marie McLennan and Sara Tomlinson — made the trip to the summit after their research project was awarded first by a panel of judges. The students were accompanied to the energy summit by two teachers, Daniella Perillat and Mrs. Natasha Marioras.
“We did a contest at the school and teams applied and did a fact-based research proposal on energy. What we could do in our school to become more efficient or help us understand energy better…we had four judges from outside the school and the team that won that got to go to the summit,” said Perillat.
The summit, Generate 2001, invited 80 students to Kananaskis to discuss some of the most pressing energy issues facing Alberta. Over three days, the students heard from a range of experts on hot topics that included nuclear energy, the oil sands, alternative energy sources, innovation and climate change and were encouraged to reflect on their own views on these issues.
The summit had a lasting effect on the students from St. Augustine, who were sponsored by Encana, as the school is planning an Energy Awareness Week from May 2 to 6.
“They were really inspired by it to do the work in our school. We will be having a different theme every day of the awareness week. They took in a lot of information,” said Perillat.
She also said the school will be in competition throughout the week to see which class has learned the most about energy and classes will get points based on how they apply the lessons they’ve learned to their everyday lives.