Cupertino students win scholarships for energized videos

Clean energy winners

Three students from Cupertino schools were winners in the EmPower Silicon Valley Short Video Competition.

Students submitted short videos promoting the benefits of clean electric technology to the competition, sponsored by Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE). The Sunnyvale-based green energy aggregator distributed $18,000 in scholarships to the winners.

Monta Vista High School students Elspeth and Audrey Luu received the Nobel Technology Award of $3,000 for their “Heat Pump Water Heater Parody.” Cupertino High School  students Maple Fan and Clarabelle Wang and Cupertino Middle School  student Sanvi Bharadwaj won Creative Presentation Awards of $2,000 for their respective videos, “Got Charge? EmPowerSV Student Video” and “Go Green – Starting With EV Chargers.”

View this years’ winning short films at svcleanenergy.org/empower-sv.

Support for homeless

The city of Cupertino was recently awarded a grant from Santa Clara County to help supplement services and support for residents experiencing homelessness. The town of Los Gatos and the nonprofit Reach SV received similar grants.

The grants will allow local jurisdictions and organizations to determine how they’ll use the funding. Last year, the county provided a round of grant funding to the same recipients, which allowed them to identify and respond to emerging local needs. These efforts included a Rotating Safe Car Park program serving Cupertino and Saratoga, and an emergency hotel program in Los Gatos.

“I’ve been pleased to see our smaller communities step up and ask, ‘How can we help?’ and even invest their own resources,” said County Supervisor Joe Simitian, who proposed the grant funding. “I’m hopeful this county funding continues to bolster partnerships with other local jurisdictions, as well as nonprofit and philanthropic organizations.”