Friday Night Lights Out
In 2006, student leaders from the Council of LionHearts created a simple and highly effective volunteer program known as Friday Night Lights Out (FNLO). The idea of turning off classroom lights each week was discussed at a meeting of the Council of LionHearts, a group consisting of leaders of the major student service organizations on campus. A project was initiated in December 2005 under the direction of Emily Hoberg, former president of the Alpha Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity.
The students who lead this project organize volunteers to walk around campus every Friday evening when classes are in session to turn off classroom lights. Without this effort, many classroom lights would be left on until Sunday evening when the custodial staff return to work. Each week volunteer students from many of Penn State's service clubs and organizations take turns participating in this project. Penn State's Housing and Food Services office donates pizzas to the student volunteers each week.
Emily Hoberg and other leaders conceived of the project after Paul Ruskin, an employee of Penn State's Office of Physical Plant, spoke to leaders of the Penn State We Are Campaign and the Council of Lionhearts. Paul mentioned that he enjoyed walking around campus and turning off classroom lights during his lunch hour on weekdays. The project was developed when the Council of LionHearts was under the leadership of Lisa Niescierenko and later Dawn Snyder -- both were graduate students from Penn State's College Student Affairs master's program. The ultimate goal of the project is to educate students about the importance of energy conservation through the simple notion of turning off lights when they leave a room.
FNLO has become a popular on-campus service project and has received national publicity through the Weather Channel and the Big Ten Network. The Council of LionHearts welcomes student organizations and other groups affiliated with the university to sign up and participate in the service project. If your organization would like to participate please email Rachel Russell at rar5316@psu.edu.
How many lights have we turned off?
Click on the semester for more information regarding how many lights we shut off and how much energy and money we saved through FNLO.
Fall 2010: 166 student volunteers, 35,540 light bulbs turned off, 59,707 kilowatt hours saved, and $5,075 saved.
Spring 2011: 172 student volunteers, 24,841 light bulbs turned off, 41,733 kilowatt hours saved, and $3,547 saved.
Fall 2011: 171 student volunteers, 28,197 light bulbs turned off, 47,370 kilowatt hours saved, and $4,026 saved.
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