Empowering young minds to become energy conscious and become wise consumers is how Debby Yerkes sums up the goal of the Ohio Energy Project Energy Fair.

Yerkes coordinates the event for OEP, which is sponsored by United States Enrichment Corp., American Electric Power, Columbia Gas and Shawnee State University.

About 275 students from Wheelersburg, Minford and Valley middle schools, Minford High School and Gallia Academy took part in Tuesday's event at SSU.

Pamela Scarfpin said 69 students from Valley Middle School were participating, while Marjorie O'Brien from Wheelersburg Middle School brought 17 students. O'Brien said one of her groups of students was in charge of the “energy carnival” where students were playing games based on popular games such as Pictionary, Taboo and Family Feud, except these games all were about energy.

Tammy Phipps from Minford Middle School, who had 29 students participating, said the kids were learning about alternative energy sources. She especially enjoyed watching the kids draw their energy picks during the “Pictionary” games.

While the students learned fun facts about energy and how to be energy efficient, another goal of the day was to prepare participating students through OEP's philosophy of “Kids Teaching Kids” to become leaders in their schools and communities.

“The students are learning how to conserve energy and gain knowledge by playing the games,” O'Brien said. Two of her students, Sadie Ruby, eighth grade, and Cassidy May, seventh grade, were energized by the event. Sadie's role was to serve as a facilitator for the event. “It's a big role. You have to have confidence and be outgoing,” Sadie said.

Cassidy was in charge of the “energy table” and served as a teacher to other kids. “It's interesting,” Cassidy said. But what about kids teaching kids. Cassidy said, “Kids listen to other kids more than if it was a teacher.”

O'Brien agreed. “They're less intimidated than they would be by a grown-up.”

Some of the activities of the day were hands-on experiments to learn how actions can save energy, making sense of sound and light energy, understanding electricity with Duke's High Wire demonstration and understanding the transformation of energy by riding the energy bike.

DEBORAH DANIELS can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 234.