In world politics, energy issues have become very important. Yet even on this grand scale, choices made by individuals and small organizations can have a big effect, so say Wissahickoon Charter School students. At WCS we are using too much fossil fuel. This is not good because oil and coal are dwindling resources and price of oil continues to rise. The burning of fossil fuel produces pollution. The pollution is unhealthy for our water and air. At WCS, we are also on very tight budget. If we pay less for oil we can spend more money on our environmental education (WCS has a school-wide environmental theme).
Our administration has been trying to get solar panels installed on the roof of our school. WCS students are being recruited to participate in the solar panel project. Julie Carol-Stapleton, our principal, said, “We need writers, mathematicians, activists, scientists, and organizers.” In order to get other students excited about solar energy we did solar car races. Students in our classes built and raced the cars. The fastest cars from each class raced at WCS’s Earth Day event on April 23rd. There were many visitors to the booths set up at the Earth Day event so there were many people we could teach about what’s new in solar technology. The top teams competed in the Junior Solar Sprints at the Franklin Institute on May 7th. After the solar car races, groups of students did class presentations about the advantages and disadvantages of various ways of generating electricity. We also visited Dr. Adrienne Cooper, an environmental engineer at Temple University. With Dr. Cooper, Mr. Friedman’s science classes conducted experiments to test the disinfecting properties of the sun.
All of these activities were designed to build student interest in solar energy and then use the momentum to recruit students to be involved in the efforts to raise money and community interest in solar panels on the roof of our school. While this phase of the project has not happened yet, WCS middle school students understand energy issues and are excited about using solar technology.
Next year we will continue our efforts by putting together a team of middle school students to meet with Principal Julie. With her we will identify our role in getting the solar panels on the roof. We hope to build support for the project by reaching out to community members, policy makers, and business leaders, and to help raise money.
By participating in this Earth Force project, we learned that, at least in our school, students can make a difference. We don’t know how this will turn out, but it is nice to learn things that might help make the world a better place and be able to act on what we learn.