During the month of February last year, Eastern realized how much energy it could save even with the high heating bills during the cold months.
SIFE has initiated a “Black Out” program to save energy with more events this year that will involve the whole school.
Although the goal is the same as last year, the process is a little different and much more interesting. This time the competition is between last year’s dominate champion, Kea-Guffin, versus all of the other residence halls combined.
Senior Michelle Katzman, a resident of Kea-Guffin, was more than excited to accept the challenge. “I want to win against all the dorms because it gives us more bragging rights,” she said.
SIFE has planned four different energy-saving events for the four weeks of February.
“Each week we have a recycling competition,” senior SIFE member Rebekah Warren said. “This week we are recycling plastic bottles and containers; next we are recycling glass, then paper and for the last week we are recycling plastic bags.”
SIFE also hosted a Super Bowl party in the Breezeway with root beer kegs, cake and games.
“The idea behind it is to get people out of their rooms and watch the game together, rather than watching it on individual TVs,” Warren said. The purpose was not only to save some energy but also to make the game more fun.
Like last year, SIFE will be organizing a Green House tour in Wayne, allowing students to visit a local “green” home. People who are interested will meet at 10 a.m. in the gym parking lot on Feb. 13.
Then, on Feb. 20, there will be a Cleanup Eastern campaign starting at 10 a.m.
“We picked February because we wanted to show people that we can save so much even during times where we use a lot of energy,” said senior Krystal Cairns, one of the project managers for Black Out.
According to Cairns, the goal of the events is not just to save energy and money, but also to “involve the campus for a huge cause.”
The results of the Black Out competition will be announced in March.