PRINCETON, NJ, February 5, 2013 – NRG Energy, Inc. announces that it has awarded a grant to Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Princeton to sponsor Sparks, Stuart’s all-girls FIRST robotics team.

Now in its second year, the girls in Sparks compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC®) Grades 7-12 robotics program, an international competition with 2,500 teams participating. The team has advanced to the New Jersey State Championship Tournament in both years of competition, often against larger, more experienced teams from all over New Jersey. This year’s Championship Tournament will be held at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark on February 9.

The robotics team is part of Stuart’s initiative in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education that promotes opportunities for girls to explore their interests and passions in areas of the STEM fields. On the team, girls each take on different, critical roles, including robot design, construction, and programming, budget management, organization, web design, and video creation.

“It is thrilling that a Fortune 300 corporation such as NRG would recognize and support our school’s work to inspire girls’ interests in the STEM fields from an early age,” said Dr. Patty Fagin, head of school at Stuart. “The girls on our robotics team were ecstatic that NRG was willing to help them through this sponsorship.”

Funding from NRG helps to offset costs and supplement the budget for the robotics team. The funds were used to purchase additional parts for the robot, making it more efficient. A portion of the grant will also be used to help pay for the team’s transportation costs for competitions.

“As part of a much larger sponsorship of FIRST, we wanted to begin by supporting the plucky Sparks team in our local Princeton community in their quest for an FTC robotics tournament championship,” said Jennifer Brunelle, head of NRG Global Giving. “As a company that thrives on innovation, we care deeply about furthering FIRST’s goal to inspire young people to become the science and technology leaders of tomorrow.”

About Stuart
As the only all-girls college preparatory school in Princeton, New Jersey, Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart is uniquely positioned to provide an environment where girls put academics first, are willing and able to take risks, and explore every opportunity. Stuart offers a challenging and innovative curriculum, superb teaching, and individualized attention grounded in the Sacred Heart Goals. Celebrating 49 years, Stuart enrolls girls in Kindergarten – Grade 12 and has a co-ed Early Childhood program. Stuart is part of an international community of Sacred Heart schools and is an independent Catholic school that embraces students of all faiths and backgrounds, helping them to become accomplished and committed leaders with the confidence and passion for justice to transform the world. For more information visit www.stuartschool.org.

About NRG Energy
NRG is at the forefront of changing how people think about and use energy. We deliver cleaner and smarter energy choices for our customers, backed by the nation’s largest independent power generation portfolio of fossil fuel, nuclear, solar and wind facilities. A Fortune 300 company, NRG is challenging the U.S. energy industry by becoming the largest developer of solar power, building the first privately-funded electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and providing customers with the most advanced smart energy solutions to better manage their energy use. In addition to 47,000 megawatts of generation capacity, enough to supply nearly 40 million homes, our retail electricity providers – Reliant, Green Mountain Energy and Energy Plus – serve more than two million customers. More information is available at www.nrgenergy.com. Connect with NRG Energy on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @nrgenergy.

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