Near West Side Youth Educate Community on Renewable Energy

On Chicago’s Near West Side, over one hundred students at Galileo Scholastic Academy recently taught their neighbors about the importance of renewable energy resources and the resulting environmental impacts. At the Energizing Student Potential (ESP) Energy Fair, students led hands-on demonstrations and explained complex conservation initiatives to help hundreds of community members visualize a more sustainable future.

“I think solar energy is the most important renewable resource,” said Jalien Baker, an 8th grader and emerging energy expert. “It’s safe and sustainable and allows us to avoid burning fuel when using cars and other equipment. Today we’re using a powerful lightbulb to replicate the sun to generate power in our solar oven. We’re using aluminum to trap the heat from the light in a dark box that is heating and cooking our food for us.”

Supported by the Exelon Foundation, Galileo’s eighth grade students have become local energy experts as they have worked to master energy-focused STEM curriculum through the ESP program.

“Today is a demonstration of how empowering this education has been for my students,” said Bryan Lopez, a science teacher and Energizing Student Potential coordinator at Galileo Scholastic Academy. “My students are exploringextraordinary topics from demonstrating the use of solar power to a campus-wide energy audit that has identified real cost-saving solutions at Galileo.”

ESP is designed to empower teachers in the classroom with the support and resources they need to help students explore energy-related STEM curriculum and careers. Powered by the Exelon Foundation, the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project and other major energy providers, Galileo Scholastic Academy students have tested wind turbines, conducted energy audits, explored clean energy alternatives, and experimented with cost-saving tools, such as LED lighting and smart meters.

“We’ve discovered that a lot of renewable energy resources are safer for our environment,” said Mion Fuije, an 8th grader at Galileo Scholastic Academy. “From solar panels to wind and hydro turbines, these alternatives are important because they won’t run out and it’s a sustainable model for the future.”

Supported by the largest clean electricity producer in the country, Exelon, and other major energy providers, ESP directly impacted more than 38,000 students and nearly 300 teachers in Illinois, the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania during the 2016-2017 academic year. Galileo Scholastic Academy was one of 110 Illinois schools to utilize ESP last year; in the 2017-2018 academic year, the program has expanded to 40 additional schools statewide.