Students use natural energy to power activities

Students at Forest Ridge Academy made S'mores on Wednesday without a camp fire and played music and powered lights without snaking extension cords to a mini solar panel.

It was part of "Full of Energy Day," in which students participated in activities that harnessed wind and solar energy. The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders ran the activities, teaching the younger students about the energy sources.

"I think they're learning, but they're probably having a lot of fun with it, too," said seventh-grader Anton Kobe, of Valparaiso, as he stood with a golf putter in hand.

Kobe and a classmate built one of the holes for the mini-golf course, which featured a solar panel that powered lights, a ball return and speakers that could hook up to an iPod.

Kobe said the learning experience at Forest Ridge Academy was different than in public schools he has attended, where books and workbooks were the primary means of learning.

"The hands-on, I think it sticks with you a lot better," he said.

Full of Energy Day was a culmination of two grants the school received from BP, science teacher Theresa Velazquez said.

The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders have been learning all year about solar and wind energy, she said.

Students spent the day shifting among the stations, which included kite flying, floating solar-powered boats made of water bottles, racing solar-powered cars and using foil, plastic, a black box and newspaper insulation to "roast" S'mores.

"Putting it together was a lot of work, but (the students) really came through," Velazquez said.

Kindergarten teacher Glenn Smith even taught the younger children the difference between steam energy and solar energy.

Velazquez, the teacher in charge of the Full of Energy Day, said that St. John resident Bill Keith, president of SunRise Solar, helped with the day's events by teaching the children about solar energy and lending them some of the larger solar panels.

Principal Cindy Arnold was pleased with the day.

"I love it because it's learning beyond the textbook," Arnold said.