On Oct. 30, 24 members from Eco Club participated in a tour of the school’s roof solar panels as part of the ReNew Our Schools energy education and conservation competition, an event in which students learn about energy production and aim to conserve energy on campus. They competed against other schools in the district until the competition ended on Nov. 15. 

Rankings were assigned based on the number of actions completed by each school. Each action was awarded a certain number of points, and the competitor with the greatest total points won. 

Of the three competitors, the Jags placed last with 26 actions completed with 380 points. Thunder Ridge High School placed second with 29 actions completed with 440 points. Castle View High School came in first with 28 actions completed with 445 points. 

“All the schools in the contest had way more points than we’ve usually seen in years past,” Eco Club adviser Jenny Wills said. “I think because we were all familiar with the other buildings that were participating, and so we did way more than we’ve usually done, but we [still] came in third out of third.”

“Our building is harder to cool down in the summer,” Wills said. “It takes more energy to do that, so understanding the physics of our building was cool.”

It was also the first time they explored an energy production facility, participating in a tour guided by an E Light Electric employee to learn about the roof’s solar panels and how they are maintained. 

The Eco Club competed against two other schools in the district, Castle View High School and ThunderRidge High School. Actions completed by the club were rewarded with a certain number of points, the winner being the school with the greatest total. 

Castle View High School placed first with 28 actions completed and 445 points earned. ThunderRidge High School placed second with 29 actions completed and 440 points earned. 

Rock Canyon High school placed last with 26 actions completed and 380 points earned.

Regardless of rankings, the number of points achieved by the Eco Club improved drastically compared to the last competition, with the total increasing from 280 to 380. 

“The district helped kind of sponsor this contest, and they’re going to actually analyze how our energy use was used over this competition period in more depth,” Wills said. “So maybe we’ll get some feedback from that that could be helpful.”

For the future, Wills believes new strategies can be implemented to improve campus awareness about energy use, such as staff meeting presentations or announcements on RCTV.

“Every year, we try to have a different direction,” Wills said. “I think some of the groups will continue some of these projects even through the school year, to put some things in place to help.  But I think having a better idea before the competition starts of what we want to do to try to make a difference will be helpful for us.”