by Kristi Hobson Edmonston ·
Friday, May 15, 2026
From left: Executive Director of MassEnergize Nathan Scott, Flora Poutasse, and Ellen Sachs Leicher. (Courtesy photo)
Student teams gathered Friday evening, May 8, at the Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State University for the inaugural Youth Climate Solutions Challenge awards ceremony. The Bromfield team’s project “Harnessing the Sun” took first place among the 10 contesting teams and won a $3,000 cash prize.
Flora Poutasse accepted the award on behalf of the team of eighth-graders. The two other members of the Bromfield team, Vv Welsh and Kimberly Chen, were unable to attend the event.
The evening started with poster presentations, summarizing projects undertaken by the public high school teams. Students eagerly discussed their work on projects like sustainable transportation, induction cooking, and energy efficiency. They described long hours planning and carrying out their campaigns, learning how to work as a team, and building the confidence to have one-on-one conversations with people in their communities.
Following the poster presentations, the awards ceremony got underway. Nathan Scott, executive director of MassEnergize, provided an overview of the Challenge. An independent, multidisciplinary panel of professionals reviewed the portfolios submitted by each team. The panel included people from the fields of clean energy, climate policy, and education. In judging the portfolios, the review panel used the following criteria: creativity and innovation; effectiveness of community engagement; measurable impact; quality of campaign design; and presentation quality.
The review panel was impressed by how thoughtfully the Bromfield students engaged their community around solar energy and home electrification. One reviewer said, “The Bromfield team went well beyond a typical student climate campaign. They produced a real community event that drew 85 attendees. They reached both youth and adults through an impressive range of channels. … The team identified a problem in their community and contacted experts to help solve it. As eighth-graders, their planning and sustained coordination were remarkable.”
When Scott announced the Bromfield School team as the grand prize winner, Ellen Sachs Leicher, who worked closely with the team as an advisor, quietly said, “Wow.” She later stated that initially the students weren’t sure they could do the Challenge, but as the project evolved, their confidence grew.
Reflecting on the experience, Poutasse said, “My first thought, when receiving the grand prize, was honestly shock and surprise. We were the only middle school team in the competition. After hearing all the other students briefly describe what they had done, I had begun to doubt our project. After the initial emotions wore off, I started to feel proud of myself and my team. I felt happy and accomplished.”
Poutasse later shared news of the win with her teammates. When asked what she learned from the Challenge, Vv Welsh said, “Hard work is really important, and sometimes it feels like you want to give up, but you just need to push through it and trust yourself and others who are involved, and then eventually all that hard work will pay off.” Kimmy Chen echoed these sentiments, saying “I learned teamwork and trusting your teammates with what they have to do, but also trusting yourself to be able to accomplish what you set out to [do].”
MassEnergize will launch its second Youth Climate Solutions Challenge during the 2026-2027 school year. The organization hopes to expand the program to additional schools across Massachusetts, including more underserved communities, and ultimately grow the program into a lasting statewide model for youth-led climate action and leadership development.