Alex Herman’s STEM Seminar 9th graders are convinced that they have terrific ideas that will cut school electricity, fuel, and water bills by thousands of dollars, reduce waste and pollution, and earn Kent County High School “Green School” certification.
Dressed in their presentation best, all 17 Seminar students used computer slide shows to show off a month of scientific, engineering and math research, each packaged into a one-minute time slot and supported by a list of research citations.
Each student’s goal at the January 23rd event was to convince County Commissioner William Short, Board of Education members Brian Kirby and Bryan Williams, County Administrator Ernest Crowfoot, KCHS Principal Tracey Williams and other VIPs that their ideas are viable, cost-effective, and worthy of environmentally friendly reality.
At the same time, the STEM Seminar proposals are aimed at helping the high school earn “Green School” designation from the Maryland Association for Environmental & Outdoor Education. If they’re successful, KCHS would be the first Kent County school to be named a Green School, joining 450 others from among the 2,200 public and private schools in the state.
One by one, the students presented their ideas:
Caroline McLeod said the high school should switch from fluorescent tubes to brighter, longer lasting, mercury-free LED lighting, expensive at first but economical in the long run; while Ryan Santmyer predicted the school system would save $2,351 a year if cafeterias would stop using Styrofoam trays and switch to reusable plastic. Ryan said each school would have to purchase a dishwasher but he added that the change would eliminate nearly 150,000 feet of trash.
Sarah Abec recommended a $20-per-window insulation system that, she says, would save the school $8,000 in heating oil costs each year; and Zach Argo said electric bills would come down if the school’s motion sensors were used more efficiently to turn security cameras as well as lights off when no one’s around to trigger the system.
The students offered high-tech, low-tech and common sense proposals, returning later to the front of the classroom to field dozens of questions, describe experiments, estimate costs and cost-saving grants, and to expound on environmental benefits.
“This is education at its best,” said STEM program evaluator Sue Basener. The students had complete control over their investigations. The idea was to make the school better and greener, and their work was phenomenal.”
Christina Bonass told the VIPs she wants to see paperless classrooms for lots of reasons: because e-books are lighter and better organized than binders, because they’re easy and inexpensive to update, and because they don’t generate trash or devour trees.
Tyler Cullum’s favorite classroom, however, would be one with a stationary bike or two so students who bore of sitting could exercise. That simple act, he said, increases blood flow to the brain by 30 percent, dramatically increasing brain function. And, he added, the bikes also could generate electricity.
Julie Macchione was one of the students with outdoor ideas. She wants the school to build a $2,500 outdoor classroom to encourage exploration of the environment and make learning more fun. And Benjamin Price wants to add to the high school Ag department’s “Tree-mendous Project,” a multi-year effort to plant thousands of trees (student volunteers already have planted more than 2,000) and to create 10.1 acres of wildlife meadows and flower beds. Benjamin wants to place bird houses in the meadows to attract native birds, and he plans to place feeders, poles and video cameras so students can watch nesting and feeding on-line.
B.K. Saunders wants students to build rain barrels to reduce storm water runoff, supply water for greenhouse plants, and perhaps, someday, provide greywater for toilets, while Alison Rameika predicted lower heating and air conditioning bills if the school would cover its roof with a lush crop of moss. Elizabeth Walters said fiberglass GreenShields, installed on top of school buses, would reduce drag and improve mileage by about 20 percent, a system she examined by building a wind tunnel and experimenting with miniature buses.
Even though environmental benefits were all substantial, a few research projects got laughs.
Ethan Miller got the biggest smiles when he reported that he’d stood outside a boys’ bathroom during 3rd period every day for a week so he could count the flushes. He used his data to figure out how much water all of the school’s toilets use and researched ways to save water. He recommended the school install $36 “dual flush toilet system converters” to existing toilets, because it allows people to use less water per flush for liquid waste, thus reducing water usage—and bills—by 45 percent.
Meian Blatchford was concerned about drinking water and wants the school to add bottle refill stations to existing water fountains. If students refill their own water bottles, she said, they won’t use as many disposable plastic bottles, most of which end up in landfills.
While Sarah Collins wants to develop a campus compost system for food waste to reduce the need for landfills, Levi Skinner said he found a Kennedyville pig farmer who would gladly pay the high school $20 a week for unwanted and uneaten food (Levi calls it Stuff Left On Plates, or S.L.O.P. for short). He said the plan would cut waste, create a steady revenue stream, and save the farmer money.
“This seminar is really what STEM is about,” said KCHS Principal Tracey Williams. “It gives the kids time to use what they’ve learned in math, science, engineering and technology classes by putting that learning into real life projects.”
Most students focused on small-to-moderate scale plans, but a few set their sights on super-ambitious ideas.
Silas Phillips said he studied the science and engineering of geothermal energy systems and came to the conclusion that he would like to see the high school develop a geothermal heating and cooling system like the one at Washington College. He acknowledged, however, that even with the help of grant money, installation would run between $300,000 and $500,000.
Monica Rosanova, meanwhile, studied solar energy and experimented on the effects of cooling solar panels. She believes that cool panels increase voltage production by 20 percent, and suggested that someday, water cooled by Silas Phillips’ geothermal system might run through the county solar array behind the high school.
Then suddenly the hour was over. The audience applauded and in less than a minute, the students were out the door, headed for their next class. The adults stayed behind to congratulate Alex Herman on the performance of his students and the thoroughness of their proposals, telling him they hope the students will stick by their proposals, refine their ideas and lobby for implementation.
That’s when Virginia Newlin, the KCPS Supervisor for Secondary Education, said the magic words:
“There are several projects,” Dr. Newlin said with a smile, “that we think we can put into place very quickly.”
Alex Herman, the STEM Seminar and math teacher who encouraged his students every step of the way, was beaming. The ideas they’d just presented—some, at least—will soon be put to work.
“The kids are so proud,” he said. They know how well they did. It was hard not to cry out of happiness. I’m over the moon proud and excited. They’ll remember this day forever.”
Caroline Schroth says
This projects uses the best instructional strategies teachers have available to them. Allowing individual research choices and requiring a performance evaluation are excellent motivators for deep student learning. I know a few of these students and am delighted to be reminded of their intelligence, creativity and salesmanship.
Robbi Behr says
This is fantastic – congratulations to the STEM seminar and Mr. Herman for putting together such a great program – not only a great outcome with many excellent ideas, but also a great educational process of innovation, discovery and practice. And thanks to the administrators and the other VIPs for taking the time to come, listen, and support these great students. Bravo all around –
andrew McCown says
Wow, what a great story!
Congratulations to all of these students and the Stem program!
Imagine, the County saves money, we pollute the environment less, and our students get to value their education. I call that a win, win, win.