In honor of Sustainability Month, dorms face off in a friendly competition monitoring energy usage every October.

The Reduce Your Use competition was won by Gilbert Hall this year, Sustainability Coordinator Christian Ryan-Downing said.

Gilbert reduced their overall energy usage by 26 percent, she said.

Today, Gilbert was treated with an ice cream party with President Gary Ransdell, Ryan-Downing said.

Students can make simple changes in their lifestyles to significantly cut energy costs, Ryan-Downing said.

These changes include turning off lights when not in use and trying to conserve water, Ryan-Downing said.

Owensboro sophomore Jordan Wimsatt, a resident assistant in Gilbert, said she was surprised when her hall was announced the winner.

“Gilbert never wins anything, so this is exciting,” Wimsatt said.

Wimsatt said she encouraged her residents to recycle more throughout the month and turn off the lights in the bathroom and laundry room when no one was using the facilities.

“Everyone already recycled a lot,” Wimsatt said. “We had reminders up throughout the dorm, though. People wrote on windows and there were posters in the lobby.”

Throughout the month students could keep up with how well their dorm was doing in the competition by visiting the “dashboard” tab on the WKU Sustainability website, Ryan-Downing said.

Although Gilbert was victorious, they weren’t always in the lead, she said.

Meredith, Zacharias and McCormack Halls were the runners-up, but even Pearce-Ford Tower, with 900 residents, made a large leap from last to tenth place, she said.

“It was a real nail-biter,” Ryan-Downing said.

In conjunction with the Reduce Your Use competition between the dorms, RAs competed against one another in creating the most creative bulletin board promoting sustainability, said David Baskett, coordinator of facilities.

Baskett said Scottsville junior Craig Lonas, an RA in McCormack Hall, won with his Halloween-themed board.

Ransdell said the entire competition went so well that it should be held twice a year.

“Students learn important lessons,” he said. “It helps students prepare for when they have to pay a utility bill in the future.”

The competition helps students not only become better campus citizens, but also better community and global citizens, Ransdell said.

To see the full results of the competition, visit www.wku.edu/housing and click on the sustainability link in the sidebar.