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TUPPER LAKE — A green gathering at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake drew about 150 high-school students.

They learned how to recognize ways to save energy, grow food in gardens and finds green jobs in the areas they live in.

The idea for the first-of-its-kind gathering sprung from Zachary Berger, a former Lake Placid High School student who is now a software-engineering student at Rochester Institute of Technology.

The 18-year-old attended a general climate conference at the Wild Center last year and was so impressed that he felt all students should have the same opportunity he had.

He proposed the idea to Lake Placid school officials and the Wild Center, and it quickly got their approval.

CARRYING IT THROUGH
Berger said that at Lake Placid High School they helped create a Community Garden and a recycling center and had two energy audits done to see where there was waste and where they could conserve it.

The students then organized the Lake Placid Environmental Club, which encouraged school officials to act on the energy reports, a process that is now under way.

The Wild Center was selected as the site for the first Youth Summit for good reasons. The two-year-old, multi-million-dollar facility is science-based, and the exhibits and programs are designed to open new ways to look into the latest discoveries made by natural scientists.

INDIVIDUALIZED PLAN
At the summit, each school that participated had a team of six students, educators and facilities staff to develop their own program, which included reducing carbon and decreasing the consumption of energy and greenhouse-gas emissions.

"First, we want to create knowledge," Program Director Jen Krester said. "We want to look at places in schools, homes and everywhere to reduce greenhouse gases and transportation."

If all 28 represented schools at the Youth Summit did that, everyone agreed, it would be a good start.

BRINGING IT BACK
Jennifer Massaro of Franklin Academy in Malone said the Youth Summit is on the right track.

"I have attended many environmental conferences, but this is the first that focuses specifically on environmental science. I found a lot I can bring back to the classroom."

Meadow Hackett, a junior at Lake Placid High School, will also return with better ways to do things.

"The program here is geared to the school; that helps you come up with an action plan for school," she said.

"You learn new ways to be more energy efficient, like unplugging electrical strips instead of just switching them off. Some power is still flowing through the strip if not unplugged. And change to energy-efficient light bulbs."

EXPERTS ON HAND
The students at the summit learned from some of the best energy-conservation people in the business. There was Jerry Jenkins, an ecologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society and leading researcher in the effects of climate change on the Adirondacks; Donald Fudge, a consultant with Energy Smart Schools and project manager with New York State Energy Research Development Authority; John Songer, plant engineer with Rochester City School District, responsible for saving more than $620,000 in the past seven years through green initiatives; and Cynthia Thomashow, former director of the environmental education master's program at Antioch New England Graduate School.

"Young people are interested in climate change but don't know how to get involved," said Chester Bickford, a senior at Saranac Lake High School.

Environmental Club Adviser Ellen Faccone said "it all comes down to learning about recycling and school gardens and the importance of buying local foods. We have to learn how we can keep more money in our local schools."

The less food that has to be trucked in by gas-hungry trucks, the bigger the boost to the environment, she said.

The Adirondack Youth Summit will be held for the next two years at the Wild Center, with an assessment being made after that about whether to continue.