Cranberry Teen Receives Pittsburgh's 'Green Champion' Award

A Cranberry Township teen was recently honored with the Green Champion Award, developed in 2012 to recognize Pittsburgh's "champions" of environmental sustainability.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl presented Amy Kolor, 18, the honor on March 7 along with nine other students from various local high schools for their efforts in water conservation.

The students who make up Pittsburgh Floww--an acronym for "For Lowering Our Water Waste--formed as a result of the South Asia Youth Summit funded by the U.S. State Department.

Kolor, a senior Sewickley Academy, applied and interviewed through Magee Womencare International to attend and was chosen, along with the other students, to represent Pittsburgh last summer.

Traveling on an all-expense-paid trip to Nepal and Sri Lanka for three weeks, the students learned how to be youth leaders with a focus on environmental stewardship, the academy said.

For Kolor, the trip was an eye-opening experience.

“We saw dead animals in the water. We couldn't drink the water or even wash our face in the water. We could only use bottled water,” she told the Tribune Review.

Charged with implementing a community action plan upon their return, the group decided to focus on water conservation by educating fellow students in five Pittsburgh schools on how to use less water.

As a culmination of the project, the students held a "community water day" at CAPA High School on Jan. 26 where local experts on water issues spoke.

Kolor transferred from Seneca Valley before her junior year. She is the daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Kolor of Cranberry Township.

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