Students Command A Solar Effort

Lincoln-Way Central High School classmates Elle Flock and Behnam Shamsaddin, both seniors from New Lenox, show off new solar panels installed at the school in August. The students are members of the school's Environmental Action Club, which managed to get the panels installed.

The view from doorway 35C in the B wing at Lincoln-Way Central High School in New Lenox consists principally of a brick wall. But those who notice the black panels hanging like an awning atop that wall are getting a look into the future.

Installed in August, the four solar panels have produced enough energy so far to power the lights for a classroom or two. More importantly, the small step toward clean power has sparked a lot of excitement among students in the school’s Environmental Action Club, a 70-member group working to remind their peers that “our world is worth protecting,” said Elle Flock, a senior from New Lenox.

“It’s the future,” she declared of the panels. “It’s also the present. Solar energy isn’t just beneficial for the environment, it’s cool.”

The solar panels are attached to the school’s electrical system and also to a website, earthwind&energyllc.com, which receives data students will use in environmental biology, advanced placement environmental science and physical science classes.

For instance, the annual solar oven design in physical science class will have a high-tech twist this year. Students usually learn how long it takes to cook a hot dog depending which way the oven faces. “This time, they’ll be able to compare those times with data from our solar panels,” said chemistry teacher Catherine Sieber.

Advocating For Solar

Sieber is the advocate for the Environmental Action Club, supervising hands-on projects including turning a section of turf into a native prairie outside the school. When she discovered students wanted clean energy at their high school, Seiber sought funding for the project. A $6,700 grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation funded for the panels, and a $400 grant from Solar Star Foundation helped cover the expense of installation.

Sieber announced the panels have prompted talk of doing research on renewable energy for the school building. But their primary purpose is educational — letting students see the benefits firsthand, and in some cases, urging their peers to give more attention to protecting the environment.

We Need Solar

“We need to teach people about renewable resources because everything is running out,” stated Behnam Shamsaddin, a senior from New Lenox. “Solar power can be the future.”

One educator noted this corner of Illinois has been dabbling in various forms of energy production for years.

“There was coal mining in LaSalle-Peru years ago when my grandparents lived there,” stated Sarah Highfill, science department chairman at Lincoln-Way Central.

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