Brianna Ratté (left) and Avery Olearczyk (right) of Huntersville spearheaded the placement of a solar panel at Cannon School in Concord.

Cannon School seniors Avery Olearczyk and Brianna Ratté recently helped erect the second solar panel on Concord’s electrical grid at their school. Also in this column, news about a Woodlawn School service projects to help the homeless and feed the hungry, student essayists and honors band players at Davidson IB Middle School, and art events at Community School of Davidson.

SOLAR PROJECT AT CANNON

Avery’s and Brianna’s project followed internships with the Electric Power Research Institute in Charlotte, where the two teens got the idea of making their school an example for solar power use.

They worked with more than 50 scientists, engineers, businesspeople, national and local public officials, and school administrators to make their project a reality. Since late March 2011, a renewable energy solar panel fitted to Cannon’s middle school building has been producing power.

The project took shape during the students’ summer internship at EPRI, where they studied renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, and learned from leading industry researchers. They visited laboratories and saw cutting-edge green energy technology, experiments and works in progress.

EPRI is a non-profit organization that conducts research and development relating to the generation, delivery and use of electricity for the benefit of the public. The Institute has offices and labs in Charlotte. EPRI summer internship programs provide volunteer student interns with a challenging and enriching technical educational experience.

The students focused on installing a photovoltaic solar panel system at Cannon School. On March 24, a 200-watt photovoltaic panel was installed and started producing power.

The panel is part of a broader EPRI research effort that will serve two purposes.  The solar panel will be used as an educational tool for high school students in the Charlotte region.  Local students can log on to a Cannon School website and observe power being produced.

In addition, the utility industry will collect information from the panel to better understand the feasibility of using widespread distributed photovoltaic generation in different regions of the United States.

The two students say they now hope to install a full-scale photovoltaic unit at Cannon School.

Woodlawn kindergartners recently made goody bags for the homeless.

WOODLAWN KIDS SERVE HOMELESS

Woodlawn kindergarten teacher Nyasha Grennan said she got the idea to have her students help the homeless after seeing her daughter’s first grade class do something similar at Community School of Davidson.

“My daughter’s first grade class at the Community School of Davidson made bags over Christmas for the children to pass out to homeless people on the interstate exits,” Ms. Grennan said. “I got to thinking, how can my Kindergarten class at Woodlawn School take this a little bit forward?”

Ms. Grennan said she decided her class could participate at the homeless shelter in Statesville called Fifth Street Ministries.

Woodlawn’s third grade participates monthly at the shelter serving meals to people in need. Ms. Grennan decided to have her class tag along. The class made more than 100 goody bags to give to each family member.

The art teacher, Jackie Royce, helped the children decorate each brown bag. Parents donated either a fruit, candy, drink or cracker item to fill each bag. With only 12 students in Ms. Grennan’s class, each child picked more than 32 items to donate. Students packed each goody bag and delivered them all to Fifth Street Ministries.

“The reaction from my students and their families was incredible,” she said. “They all felt how important it was to help the people in their own community.  I hope this story will encourage other teachers to pay it forward to those in need.”

ESSAY HONORS AT DAVIDSON IB

Davidson IB Middle School students Erik Thorsheim and Sophie Swallow recently were selected as runners up in the “Do the Write Thing Challenge.”  An awards reception will be held for the essay winners at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 25, at the Charlotte Museum of History 3500 Shamrock Drive, Charlotte.

“The Do the Write Thing Challenge” is part of the National Campaign to Stop Violence, a non-profit, non-partisan organization, that aims to reduce violence and its impacts in the lives of youth.

The primary initiative of the campaign is the “Do the Write Thing Challenge” Program.

The challenge gives middle school students an opportunity to examine the impact of violence on their lives in classroom discussions and in written form by communicating what they have seen to be the causes of youth violence as well as solutions to help decrease the violence in their communities.

DUKE TIP PICKS PINE LAKE STUDENTS

Several Pine Lake Preparatory students were honored recently by the Duke Talent Identification Program. The Duke University TIP’s 7th Grade Talent Search identifies academically talented seventh graders based on standardized test scores from elementary or middle school. Candidates are invited to take the ACT or the SAT college entrance exam as seventh graders.

Seventh-graders Austin Martinez and Danielle Anderson received state recognition and grand recognition.  William Barrett, Bailey Coggins, Rebekah Costello, Jacob Ferrier, Clare Flaherty, Aanand Shah and Nolan Sutter received state recognition.

DAVIDSON IB TRIO IN HONORS BAND

From left, trumpter Jacob Pilsbury, horn player Sophie Swallow and baritone saxophonist Mark Mader of Davidson IB Middle School played in the 2011 CMS Middle School honors band.

Davidson IB Middle School students participated in the 2011 Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Honors Band recently.

Students who participated were: Jacob Pilsbury, who plays trumpet; Sophie Swallow, who plays the horn; and Mark Mader, who plays baritone saxophone.

The Honors Band concert took place at Piedmont Open IB Middle School on April 9 and included selections from The Rolling Stones.

WOODLAWN ‘CAN-STRUCTION’ PROJECT

Dana Neidinger (back row, second from left) and fellow Woodlawn students with their "can-struction."

Woodlawn School in Davidson recently held a “construction” competition between high school grades to build a sculpture and encourage students to donate canned food for Loaves & Fishes.

Dana Neidinger, a 16-year-old student, organized the “construction.” The competition was held on April 15 and the canned goods were delivered to a Loaves & Fishes pantry on April 16.

To start the competition, Dana got Harris Teeter, Food Lion and Target to donate the first 208 cans with a total value of $100.

This effort is part of Dana’s Gold Award project for Girl Scouts.

COMMUNITY SCHOOL ART CRAWL

Community School of Davidson showcased student art throughout their two school buildings during the townwide April Is for Arts Gallery Crawl April 8.

High school woodwork students displayed chessboards, tables, skateboards and musical instruments. Middle school wood workers displayed birdhouses and games.

Photography students featured in-depth profiles of local businesses and personalities. Visual art students exhibited pottery, sketches, color wheel inspired art, 3-D art and human sculptures made from tape and cellophane.

Middle school and high school dance students at both buildings added to the evening with live performance art stressing the importance of physical movement and how it positively affects learning, education and the brain.

“You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” directed by Melissa Ohlman-Roberge and staring middle school students was performed throughout the weekend.

To see video of the Arts Gallery Crawl, visit http://www.csdnc.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=3653378&pageId=13111571.

HAVE NEWS?

Send news to Karen at karen@davidsonnews.net. School Notes appear on both CorneliusNews.net and DavidsonNews.net.