Mr. Tyler Eaton presents Su Hae Jang ’20 with the $1,000 grant award to help build solar-powered charging stations on campus.
Junior Jessica (Su Hae) Jang applied for and received a mini-grant from The Wild Center’s Adirondack Youth Climate Summit towards her solar-powered charging stations project for phones and laptops. Her effort is part of Northwood’s Sustainability Committee.
Last February, Jessica Jang, Braelyn Tebo, and Imani Rodriguez went to the Adirondack Youth Climate Summit in Tupper Lake. Back then, they discussed how they could apply what they learned to their community at Northwood School, and that’s where their idea came: charging station powered with solar energy.
The Sustainability Committee got the support for the project from Head of School Mr. Michael Maher in February. After drawing a sketch and deciding the location, the committee submitted it for a second approval from Maher who was totally impressed and proposed to build two instead of only one. Environmental science teacher Mr. Tyler Eaton is going to assist the students with this project as well as the robotic program.
The Sustainability Committee is trying to involve as many students as they can to help with this project. It is a very expensive project; the cost total would be around $1,200, including the 300-watt solar panels. Fortunately, the Wild Center in Tupper Lake is supporting this idea and made a donation of $1,000 to help the school fund the project.
The solar panels are going to be provided by a local company, called Crust Solar, who is going to help to install the panels because it is very complicated. The two phone charger stations will be located in both of the academic building, right under the stairs. Students will be able to charge their phone while they are in class. Thirty phones can be charged at the same time, fifteen phones per station. These stations will be set up for the beginning of next year.
If this project is successful, the committee is thinking about installing one in Northwood on Main and also in the main building.
People call me “Fran.” I am 19 years old from Dominican Republic. I have an older sister, but she’s lucky enough to be born here in the US, while I was born on a small island in the Caribbean, which I love. I am a soccer player here at Northwood, but I also like learning all the good things that Northwood offers. I came to Northwood because I wanted to follow my dream: playing soccer and studying at the same time and at a high level. My favorite part of Northwood is how everybody is welcoming and they all teach you new stuff. My plans after Northwood are hopefully attending a good college where I can play soccer and study until I decide which is better for me. Something that I am never going to forget about Northwood is probably when in the beginning of the school year, when the cold was starting, Shanks [senior Matthew Shanklin] offered me a warm jacket or when I go to Will’s room at night just to talk. I will never forget this because it made me feel part of the Northwood family right since the beginning.”
