Bringing STEM Education to Five More North Carolina Schools

Since April 2015, our Solar Schools program has been able to bring solar and energy education to more than 23,000 K-12 students across 27 North Carolina schools and 22 counties, and we recently announced the five newest awardees:

• The Center of Applied Sciences and Technology (COAST), Bolivia – Brunswick County
• Charles P. Murray Middle School, Wilmington – New Hanover County
• Hurley Elementary School, Salisbury – Rowan County
• Peachland-Polkton Elementary School, Peachland – Anson County
• Sunny View Elementary School, Mill Spring – Polk County

NC GreenPower Solar Schools uses a portion of the donations we receive to provide matching grants for small photovoltaic (PV) systems (3-5 kilowatts) at schools. In addition to the solar array, the schools receive a weather station, real-time monitoring equipment, a STEM curriculum and lesson plans. It’s a full educational package that gives instructors valuable, hands-on tools to teach their students about renewable energy.

Here’s how it works:

1. At the beginning of the year, these schools applied to the program on our website.
   1. All North Carolina K-12 schools are eligible and encouraged to apply, but preference may be given to those in economically distressed counties.
2. The schools were chosen to receive a 50% matching grant up to $10,000 and are tasked with raising the remainder of the funds.
   1. We are also fortunate to partner with the State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU) Foundation, offering this year’s schools an additional $15,000 grant that allows for a 5 kilowatt system.
3. The schools are currently using our fundraising website to raise money for their portion of the solar installation. We are supplementing these efforts with marketing and social media promotion.
4. After the money is raised, we will coordinate with local solar installers and manage the installation of the PV systems.
5. We will also provide educational materials to the schools from the National Energy Education Development Project as well as training for teachers.
6. Once each solar array is installed, we will host a celebratory ribbon-cutting ceremony at that school for teachers, staff and students!

The fundraising campaigns of our 2019 schools are already underway. To help them out, visit my.ncgreenpower.org/campaigns. And if you’d like to learn more about the program, check out https://ncgp.wpengine.com/solar-schools/ or read through some of our school stories.