by Kristi Hobson Edmonston ·
Friday, March 27, 2026
In a study room at the Harvard Public Library, three Bromfield students—Vv Welsh, Kimberly (Kimmy) Chen, and Flora Poutasse—meet with their mentor, Ellen Sachs Leicher, chair of the Harvard Climate Initiative Committee. On the table, sandwiched between laptops and water bottles, is a pile of flyers, publicizing the students’ solar seminar on April 11. The seminar represents months of hard work by this motivated group of young people.
Welsh, Chen, and Poutasse are participating as a team in the MassEnergize Youth Climate Solutions Challenge. MassEnergize is a nonprofit organization, focused on working on climate action on a local level. According to its website, the Challenge is a “climate focused, team-based competition [that] challenges students to become local champions of clean energy.” This is the first year of the program.
In fall 2025, teams throughout Massachusetts submitted applications to participate in the program. Once selected, teams had approximately four months (January-April 2026) to identify, organize, and implement an outreach campaign focused on clean energy in their communities. Each team received a seed grant to support their planning and outreach efforts.
As eighth-graders at Bromfield, Welsh, Chen, and Poutasse are the youngest team in the competition and represent Bromfield’s Green Team. The competition is for high school students but welcomes younger students if they attend a school, like Bromfield, that houses grades 6-12. Reflecting on competing against older students, Welsh said, with agreement from her teammates, it’s “a bit intimidating, … but also kinda cool.”
The Bromfield team considered several ideas before deciding to organize a solar energy seminar encouraging homeowners to install solar on their houses. The students hope the seminar will raise awareness and inspire people to make climate-friendly changes, big or small. As Welsh said, “We want them to learn, to care, to get knowledge.”
Organizing the program involved a detailed project timeline and outreach by the students. Chen said, “Between the four of us, we have a lot of connections.” Poutasse agreed and said “the [solar] vendor is one of my friend’s fathers, the person who we rented the video equipment from was the person for whom I cat sit, and the people we interviewed are Vv’s neighbors.” Those community relationships helped the team pull together resources and information.
Sachs Leicher noted, “I’ve been incredibly impressed with this group. They’ve done the work.” Poutasse agreed, saying, “This may sound a bit sappy, but I wouldn’t want to work with anyone else. All of us are incredibly hardworking people.”
The solar seminar includes a slideshow, speakers from the community who have personal experience with solar, a Q&A session, solar coaches, and solar vendors. Chen noted the team originally intended to use a film that was “premade by someone else to show solar” but decided they wanted something more relevant to the Harvard community. As a result, team members conducted a series of interviews with local people and created their own video to include in the program.
The team also asked Bromfield science teachers to extend extra credit to students who attend the event with their grown-ups. The team hopes some of these students may be inspired to join the Green Team in the future.
As part of the overall Challenge, the Bromfield team will attend the MassEnergize conference in early April, to present their work via a poster session. The team will also submit a digital portfolio to MassEnergize. In mid-May, at an event at Framingham State University, the top three teams will receive awards of $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000, to be given to their schools at the end of the competition.
Back at the library, as the team’s planning meeting draws to a close, Sachs Leicher’s phone pings. She glances down, quickly reads the incoming text, and smiles. She tells the students, “It’s up. It’s up!” The link for the solar seminar is live on the Harvard Climate Initiative Committee’s website. There is palpable energy and enthusiasm in the room as the group takes a moment to celebrate this milestone in their journey before quickly returning to their work.
The solar seminar is a free, public program at the Harvard Public Library on Saturday, April 11, from 2 to 4 p.m., in Volunteers Hall. There will be light refreshments and a small giveaway. Preregistration is encouraged, but not required, at https://harvard maclimateinitiative.org.
According to Nathan Scott, the executive director of MassEnergize, this is the first Challenge it has sponsored. The organization hopes to continue its efforts in the future, as long as it can secure funding to sponsor the Challenge. More information can be found on the group’s website, MassEnergize.org.