Barstow High graduate helps Las Vegas go green
By the time they enter their second semester, many college freshmen are still trying to fit in at a new school. But when he began his second semester at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 19-year-old Jerrad Schendel took matters into his own hands.
Dissatisfied with the clubs on campus, the 2008 Barstow High School graduate helped found a student club, Project Green, dedicated to keeping the desert clean. Now, at the beginning of his sophomore year, Schendel and another student are spear heading a non-profit group, the Green Development Coalition, that brings its message of sustainable living to elementary school and junior high school students. Schendel is also a founding member of a for-profit consulting firm called Green Global Consulting that helps homes and businesses save money by using energy efficient appliances and light bulbs, and making sure they plug up air leaks.
“I always recycled, and my grandparents were really big on desert clean up days , but other than that I wasn’t worried about (the environment) until I got out here,” he said.
The idea for all three organizations took shape when Schendel met fellow UNLV student Chase Spillman while working at the Wynn Las Vegas. There, Schendel said, it wasn’t unusual to see water running in a basin that wasn’t being used. Lights were left on in rooms no one was in, he said. And bleach was a common cleaning ingredient at the hotel.
“We actually had a meeting with the (Chief Operating Officer) of the company,” Schendel said. “We brought him an entire presentation, put together a packet on environmental ink and environmental recycled paper and we brought it to him. He said he would look into it and he never got back to us.”
Even though Spillman and Schendel didn’t get far with the Wynn, at less than a year old, Project Green already has 60 members, Schendel said. Since they started the consulting firm in July, the two students helped 12 homes become greener. The non-profit is only two months old, but Schendel already has goals of making it an international non-profit.
“He’s just someone you can always count on,” Spillman said. “He has just been a really amazing person to work with.”
Vernon Morris, assistant cross country coach at Barstow College, said he met Schendel when he was a student at Barstow Middle School and saw him at the Bureau of Land Management’s desert clean up events. Morris thinks Schendel is serious about environmental awareness, and is glad he’s passionate about being green.
“He just wants to educate people, just about anybody, about taking care of the environment,” he said. “I think he’s found a group of people he can work with, challenging his brain and his social skills.”
Even with dreams of taking the Green Development Coalition international, Schendel said he’d eventually like to return to Barstow and maybe build a park.
“The goal would be to go back to Barstow and do some type of project to help the kids there,” he said. “Build something where the kids can go and have fun and maybe learn a little bit at the same time.”
Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4123 or jcejnar@desertdispatch.com
