The year 2008 will be unforgettable for Jamie Hall, Emily Guo, Zach Doleac, Joseph Hegge and Laura Wang.

For one thing, they’ll soon graduate from Redmond High School. And they had the rare privilege of meeting President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush.

These students and their mentors, Redmond High School (RHS) science teacher Mike Town and Redmond Junior High (RJH) science teacher Meg Town, were in Washington, D.C. earlier this month to be honored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

They were recognized because of the success of a Cool Schools program to reduce carbon dioxide production. (See www.coolschoolchallenge.org.)

Mike Town established the program two years ago, and these students carried out the work to raise awareness of energy conservation, recycling and other measures to improve the environment — first at RHS, then at RJH and other buildings throughout the Lake Washington School District.

During their trip to the nation’s capital, they visited with members of Congress and the EPA, spoke at an Earth Day rally and were greeted at the White House.