“We believe in the power of the sun” was the slogan for the small, Durham, North Carolina 4th grade class that together succeed in making their classroom 100% solar photovoltaic (PV)-powered. When the class, taught by Aaron Sebens, started a Kickstarter campaign, Our Solar Powered Classroom, they could not have imagined how far the project would exceed their expectations. Originally setting their goal at raising $800, the total amount raised topped $5,800.
In a short video created by the 4th graders and their teacher, the class explained why they wanted to start the project: “We believe in the sun and would like to fundraise to get enough money to buy solar panels for our classroom so we do not have to use any electricity from the power plant.” The chipper group continued with, “We have been doing research on how much electricity we use to power our classroom so we know how many solar panels we need, and how much money it will cost. We will figure out how to design and build a solar array, and with help we can take our classroom off the grid. We’re really excited about teaching others in our school and community about the power of solar energy.”
With their original modest goal of $800, the classroom wanted to buy only enough solar panels to power their classroom. However, with the influx of backers, the classroom decided to build a PV system large enough to not only power their classroom, but also generate enough energy to sell back to the community. Sebens wrote on their Kickstart page, “We cannot believe we were able to raise more than $5,800. Thank you all so much for your support! We are so excited about all the opportunities this provides for: making a larger solar array, buying materials so the entire 4th grade can make electricity generating wind turbines, and sharing resources with the entire school.”
This incredible story of our future generation getting involved with clean energy has gone viral and appeared on sites such as Clean Technica. So let’s go Minnesotans! Let’s get our own youth involved in the clean energy movement!
You can click here to view the class’ campaign page. Below is the original video posted on Kickstarter by Seben’s class:
Interested in what Kickstarter can do for your project? Take some time looking through the projects on Kickstarter and check out some tutorials here and here for tips on how to create winning campaigns.
