At 17, Jacob Esposito may seem too young to have left a legacy behind. But at Long Reach High School, the 2010 graduate has done just that.
The Elkridge resident was named last week to the All-America Service Team, a group of 15 high school students from across the country who are changing their communities through service. Esposito conducted research in environmental sustainability, assisted a contractor in reducing energy costs at Long Reach and expanded the school's recycling program.
The first-ever service team was jointly selected from more than 200 eligible applications by the syndicated news magazine Parade and The League, a national youth service organization based in New Jersey.
A limousine will take Esposito to a meeting in Washington with the other "leaders of tomorrow," who will descend on the nation's capital June 23 from all corners of the country to join in the group's annual recognition breakfast at the Ronald Reagan Building, where they will receive framed certificates along with winners of other honors.
Later that day, the 15 members will be awarded medals in a White House ceremony led by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
"When Parade contacted me, I couldn't believe it," said Esposito, who took a flower and thank-you card to school the next day for his English teacher, Heather Johnston, in appreciation for nominating him in the environment category. The other four areas are economics, education, health and community.
"Working on the environmental sustainability project at Long Reach has already been an amazing experience, so everything else that happens is a bonus," he said.
Esposito was a natural for this honor, Johnston said.
"It became apparent to me that Jake is a gifted orator when he picked apart novels and argued about their meaning in class," said Johnston, who also taught 12th-grade English honors to Esposito's two older siblings, Johnna, 22, and Joey, 19. Younger sibling Jessie, a rising junior at Long Reach, will likely be in her class, she said.
"Jake really feels strongly about the possibilities of living green in the future," she said. "He's altruistic about making the world a better place, and I'm certain he'll go on to do great things."
Ken Roey, the school system's director of facilities, said Long Reach "took a real hard look and made behavioral changes as well," so much so that the school has the lowest energy cost of all comparable high schools in the county, including River Hill and Wilde Lake.
The Long Reach project, which Roey said allowed Esposito to develop leadership skills, has spurred a similar one with another contractor at Reservoir High School in Fulton.
But despite the well-deserved accolades for the new alumnus, the chronology of events that initially set Esposito's win in motion was a bit more modest.
He began the 2009-2010 academic year as a senior intending to study the Chesapeake Bay and the restoration of its oysters, a species that plays a key role in the bay's fragile ecology.
When that broad idea didn't pan out as a topic, gifted and talented resource teacher Diane McAllister suggested Esposito check out a different sort of ecosystem: the school itself.
Select Energy Solutions Inc., a Columbia-based firm, was already working with the county school system in a pilot study to make over Long Reach High's energy profile. The company had begun implementing conservation measures, such as installing a new cooling tower that would also eliminate the chemical waste created by the air conditioning system.
Esposito chose to adopt the in-progress partnership as the basis for his independent research study.
"Jake, who became our student liaison, put 110 percent into his project," said McAllister. "We really have started to make a difference at Long Reach by bringing the issue to the forefront and increasing awareness and knowledge."
About the same time his research topic crystallized, Esposito also learned that the high school on Old Dobbin Lane had an Environmental Club. After expressing interest in joining, he was chosen by members to be its president.
"My job was to get other kids involved [in the partnership] by spreading the word to the student body" about making the school more energy efficient, Esposito said. The club was a natural place to make that happen, so he quickly recruited 10 new members.
With those decisions firmly in place, Esposito was well on his way toward making a difference.
"Everything just sort of clicked for me," he said, adding that his interest in the environment was piqued in 11th grade when he took a class in environmental science.
The upshot of those two events falling into place became the basis for increased student involvement in environmental sustainability efforts at the school. He and some Environmental Club members took it upon themselves to widen the school's recycling efforts by adding bins in four stairwells to supplement those in the cafeteria.
Sam Karas, president of Select Energy, conducted an energy audit with the students, seizing upon many teachable moments to explain the electric- and gas-based systems in the building and the initiatives that could curtail the amount of energy that supplies them.
Esposito's research turned on shadowing the contractor around the school to assist and observe on such projects as installing occupancy sensors that turn lights off when rooms are not in use, an improvement that should knock 10 percent off the school's electric bill, Karas said.
The types of improvements Esposito studied under Karas' guidance could save the county school system as much as $25,000 a month in energy costs if all are implemented, the supervisor said.
"Jake left a nice trail for other students to follow now that he's gone," said Karas. "His initiative and leadership created the beginnings of something that will live on. 'Green-collar jobs' are the new frontier and I believe he'll ultimately end up in this field."
With four Long Reach students and another teacher already on board for next school year, Esposito is glad the torch will be carried forward.
"I'm so grateful to Long Reach for the opportunities I had," said Esposito, who's planning to study environmental science at Frostburg University in the fall. "Working on that research project woke me up to what I want to do for the rest of my life."
Neighbors
Is there a noteworthy person or event in your neighborhood? Contact Neighbors columnist Janene Holzberg at jholzberg76@msn.com or 410-461-4150