New PRIDE program for Knox and Whitley County elementary students

 Elementary school students in Knox County and Whitley County will enjoy a new PRIDE program this year. Local sponsors recently agreed to share the annual fee to enroll the counties’ schools in the PRIDE Environmental Education Outreach Program.

In Knox County, the sponsors are the fiscal court and Cumberland Valley Electric. The program will serve 9,631 students in the Knox County and Barbourville Independent School Systems, as well as St. Camillus Academy. 

In Whitley County, the fiscal court and Cumberland Valley Electric are sponsoring the program. Two thousand students will be reached in the Whitley County, Williamsburg Independent and Corbin Independent School Systems.

“We appreciate that the fiscal courts and Cumberland Valley Electric invested in this partnership to benefit local students and the environment,” said Karen Engle of PRIDE. “This program makes environmental science lessons very interesting and memorable. That will help students prepare for state science tests and give them environmental stewardship skills for life.”

“We want to educate our people about conserving energy, and we think this program will help,” said Ted Hampton, who is the chief executive officer of Cumberland Valley Electric. “We want to reduce the construction of power plants, which are very expensive to build.” 

“We appreciate PRIDE’s involvement in teaching students to conserve energy,” added Linda White, billing supervisor for Cumberland Valley Electric. The not-for-profit electric cooperative serves Harlan, Leslie, Letcher, Bell, Knox and Whitley Counties, as well as portions of McCreary and Laurel Counties.

“We also look forward to working with the superintendents, the principals, teachers and students,” Engle continued. “Many local schools have built strong environmental education programs, and we’ve been pleased to be part of those efforts with PRIDE grants. With those relationships in place, the liaisons can hit the ground running.”

The PRIDE Environmental Education Outreach Program teaches students how our daily lives impact the local environment and why it is our personal responsibility to care for it. A PRIDE Environmental Education Liaison visits classes to lead activities tied to the state’s curriculum guidelines on such topics as water quality, energy conservation, recycling and proper trash disposal. The program serves 3rd through 5th grade classes, with an emphasis on 4th graders who take the state’s annual science test.

The PRIDE Environmental Education Outreach Program is offered in the 38 counties served by PRIDE. Local sponsors pay an annual fee to enroll a school system in the program.

PRIDE is a nonprofit organization that promotes environmental cleanup and education in southern and eastern Kentucky. PRIDE, which stands for “Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment,” was founded in 1997 by Congressman Hal Rogers and James Bickford, former state environmental secretary.

To learn more about the PRIDE Environmental Education Outreach Program, please call the PRIDE office, toll free, at 888-577-4339, or visit www.kypride.org/educators.