The First Annual State Competition Award Ceremony was held at Target Field on May 21st, 2017. This event was attended by over 100 YES! students, coaches, staff, and supporters from 4 Youth Energy Summit (YES!) teams. Teams represented the following communities; Glencoe–Silver Lake, Wrenshall, Westbrook–Walnut Grove, and St. Cloud. YES! works hard to bring opportunities like these to its students where they can showcase the hard work they do throughout the school year to be better stewards of the earth. Students were escorted onto the Twins field near home base during the pregame show.
Brendon Slotterback, from the McKnight Foundation presented the first ever YES! State Champion award to the Glencoe-Silver Lake YES! team!
Twenty-nine YES! teams across the state participated in their Regional Spring Competition. Four teams were presented with the All-Star Award for their high scores in teamwork, goal setting, community leadership, project impact, community education, and creativity and innovation in carrying out their energy action projects. Receiving the All-Star Award entered the teams into the State Championships. This year, Glencoe–Silver Lake was awarded the 2017 State Champion Award for their dedication to their project, their outstanding teamwork, and their work on a real world problem. One judge said the Glencoe–Silver Lake YES! team is “preparing leaders for future problem-solving.”
We can’t wait to see what next year brings as many teams will continue their important work and new teams will join the program. The State Competition has put a fire under the Jkteams to try even harder and reach even further next year to complete their goals and projects. Congratulations to all the teams involved in the various competitions this year as each teams’ dedication, innovation, and passion was evident throughout every project they completed.
Major support for the YES! program is from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENTF) and the McKnight Foundation.
