Park View is NEED's National School of the Year — Again

, has been named 2012 National Junior Level Energy School of the Year by the National Energy Education Development Project Board of Directors.

"This is a great achievement, however, what establishes this as 'above and beyond' is the fact that this is the second year in a row that Park View NEED Cougars were bestowed this honor," said Park View Middle School Principal Joseph S. Rotz.

The NEED students are invited to attend a national ceremony in Washington, D.C., in June.

Throughout the year, the students work to promote energy education within the school and the community as a whole, including a large energy fair that attracts hundreds of people who come to see them showcase a variety of projects that address energy issues.

The advisers for the program are Park View teachers Joanne Spaziano, Nancy DeCosta and Sheila Hopkins. Spaziano began the NEED program at Park View Middle 14 years ago to begin educating students on how to save energy.

“We’re kind of like the three musketeers,” Spaziano said last year after the school won the state and national award for the first time. “We work with our students to help them teach other kids about energy.”

NEED is a national network, based in Washington D.C., of over 75 high school, elementary and middle schools that undertake science projects to teach local residents and their fellow students about energy use. The program began in 1980.