Talkeetna Elementary fourth and fifth grade students won big with a Power Pledge. The Pledge is a challenge through the Renewable Energy Alaska Project, or REAP, challenging students to learn more about renewable energy by taking action and hearing from experts.
Lori Holcomb’s fifth grade class were the state winners and Meghaan Blomberg’s fourth grade class won for the district. Each class took on challenges, like learning where their power comes from, learning about careers in the field, and making homes more energy efficient. The students invited local experts to lead them through activities and answer questions about energy.
Each class also came up with creative ways to show what they’d learned. Holcomb’s class built holiday decorations from recyclable materials. Paper turned into snowflakes, magazines turned into Christmas trees, and applesauce containers became an Advent calendar.
Blomberg’s class powered fans with solar panel circuits and made reminder signs for all the light switches in the school.
The students have begun putting into action everything they learned during the pledge. Jorie Cruz, a fifth grade student, says now she thinks about conserving electricity.
“I learned that there is like so many other types of electricity than I knew. I learned where it comes from and how it was made and I think that’s like the biggest way, the biggest thing that I’m going to take away is like to help conserve it.”
Molly Bradley, also a fifth grade student and President of the Student Leadership Council says everything adds up.
“I think probably one of the biggest things I learned is everything adds up pretty much. So every little thing that our class can do and every little thing that we did to save electricity can all add up. I thought that was really cool.”
One of the most inspirational things for both fifth-graders was reading The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a story about a boy bringing wind power to his village. Jorie explains how the book inspired the class.
“We did like make our own mini-windmill and we read a book about William Kamkwamba, the first person to make a windmill for his town.”
Both Jorie and Molly say they’ve started taking these ideas home and to other students too. Jorie says she shared her knowledge about how power is made and that her family is cautious about turning off lights and water. Molly says she introduced recycling ideas to the Student Leadership Council.
Both classes won a tour of the nearby substation with Matanuska Electric Association and a pizza party. Holcomb’s class will also receive $2,000 worth of energy education kits and supplies.
