Nanaimo's Mayor Leonard Krog stares down the barrel of another correct answer in a power-themed quiz from a Grade 5 student at Departure Bay elementary school on Friday, Mar. 6. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

POWERED UP

Nanaimo mayor, council crushed by powerful fifth grade challenge

Mar 6, 2020 | 4:05 PM

NANAIMO — A power-themed challenge proved decisively that Nanaimo’s mayor and council may not be smarter than fifth graders.

BC Hydro’s community education team presented an energy conservation lesson to a pair of Grade 5 classes at Departure Bay elementary school on Friday, Mar. 6, along with Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog and councillors Erin Hemmens and Ben Geselbracht.

In a Family Feud-style quiz for the grand finale, Nanaimo’s elected representatives were soundly beaten 11-2.

“You have to step up to the fight, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose,” Krog said in the wake of defeat. “I can’t think of a better group to lose to than a bunch of young, intelligent, committed children who care about the environment.”

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Karla Louwers, BC Hydro’s public affairs officer, said the school visit and competition is about creating good habits early in life.

“They may not be the ones paying the hydro bill, but they certainly contribute and they can make changes to their behaviour and influence their family’s behavior to conserve electricity and save on the hydro bill,” Louwers said.

Jules Whelan, a student at Departure Bay elementary, practices many of the lessons taught during the demonstration. His family doesn’t own a clothes dryer.

“Instead of using a dryer, I hang up my clothes on a rack…but it’s pretty hard to do in the winter so usually we just do a lot of it in the summer,” Whelan said.

Krog said he wasn’t surprised by the breadth of knowledge the students displayed.

“This is the next generation and having spoken to a couple of classes in the last month, I’m filled with confidence about the future,” Krog said. “This group were amazingly articulate, they’re committed to conservation.”

alex.rawnsley@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley