The dorm winner of Campus Conservation Nationals was supposed to be announced yesterday
(The Beacon)
By Philip Ellefson, Staff Writer -- ellefson15@up.edu
The winner of Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN)was supposed to be announced yesterday, but due to technical difficulties, the week three results have not be calculated.
A system wide deadlock with the CCN website resulted in a delay with the record processing, according to the coordinator for environmental justice and sustainability for the Moreau Center, Meredith Dickinson, who organized UP's participation in CCN, in an email.
While no data has been lost, as of Wednesday night, the winner was still unknown.
The national energy reduction competition ended yesterday after three weeks. The winning dorm will be awarded $500 from Residence Life, which will go directly to hall council, who will decide how to spend it. As of last week, Christie Hall led the dorms with 21.4 percent of their energy saved, with Mehling Hall and Villa Maria Hall taking second and third place, respectively.
Although the competition is over at UP, some colleges will be competing until April 23, because different universities compete at different times within the whole competition, which started Feb. 6. The college campus that reduces energy and water use by the greatest percentage will win $10,000 worth of energy monitoring equipment.
Dickinson said students learned a lot from the competition.
"I think it was a huge success in awareness raising, just considering our use as something we don't need to do as often," Dickinson said. "Students were able to learn how inefficient mini-fridges are. Some students learned for the first time about vampire energy."
Dickinson also said CCN helped students engage with their communities.
"It shows individuals that it's much easier to conserve when your community's doing it too, when you're not just this lone wolf," Dickinson said.
Sophomore Kylie Pybus, Mehling Hall's Service and Justice Coordinator (SJC), agreed that the competition built community.
"It's been fun to see everyone joking with each other and holding each other accountable for their actions," Pybus said.
Dickinson said she was glad to see students finding innovative ways to reduce energy consumption.
"Each student and each dorm had the opportunity to engage in their own way, with creativity and with energy," Dickinson said. "There's a student in Mehling that runs up and down the stairs, turning off lights. In Fields there's a sign that says ‘93 percent of stairs feel neglected.'"
Christie Hall also has unique signs in their bathrooms, said sophomore Anthony Bedoy, Christie's SJC.
"There was one sign that said, ‘How would you like it if someone turned you on and left you there?" Bedoy said. "It's funny, but it also makes you more conscientious."
Although Pybus believed the competition went well, she said she was initially worried about it.
"I think when all of the SJCs heard about it, I thought it would be a daunting task," Pybus said. "I was really unsure about how I was gonna get the word out to eight floors of girls. The next Wednesday, when we found out the results, I was ecstatic. We saved I think 16.8 percent, which is a ton."
Bedoy said he was also surprised by the enthusiasm.
"I thought guys would be like, ‘Ugh, I have to turn the lights off,' but they were really open to it," Bedoy said.
Dickinson is excited about UP's participation in CCN next year.
"It's really endless, the potential for ways to engage, so each year this competition can be totally fresh and new," Dickinson said.
