Each year, New Jersey Natural Gas’s Conserve to Preserve program challenges students to practice energy conservation and to encourage conservation in their communities as part of their Kids and Conservation initiative.
Fifth grade students throughout NJNG’s service territory are invited to create posters showing the benefits of conserving energy and/or the consequences of overusing it. The 2018 Monmouth County winner was Holy Cross School fifth grader Nicholas Kounis.
Kounis’ efforts not only won him a personal laptop computer, but also earned Holy Cross School’s Science program $1,000 for conservation projects. Science teacher Mary DeBiasi was also awarded a gift card for encouraging her students to participate in Kids and Conservation.
The culmination of Nicholas’ win was March 1, when The Brain Show assembly visited Holy Cross School, courtesy of the Conserve to Preserve program. NJNG representatives Carolyn Cannon, lead customer relations coordinator, and Tom Hayes, director of customer and community relations, presented Kounis with a certificate and laptop. The celebration rounded out with students in grades third through eighth having an opportunity to participate in the NJNG’s interactive Brain Show, during which they answered fast-paced questions and enjoyed energizing music and dancing.