News From CEED

On May 14, 2003, Meadville Area Senior High’s newly installed solar photovoltaic system was the center of festivities designed to “Make Meadville Brighter.” The Meadville Community Energy Project (MCEP), including Americorps/Bonner leader Ben Houghton ’04, and the Crawford Central School District teamed up to develop and implement the project.

The one-kilowatt solar array is the first photovoltaic system on a school in Pennsylvania outside the Philadelphia area. The event, attended by more than 150 students and community members, featured solar car races, logo contests, musical performances, and cultural exhibits. Photos from the event can be seen at http://www.craw.org/mash/sun.htm.

“This project will give the schools, and our community, up-to-date technology and teaching tools,” says Robert Radnich, Meadville Area Senior High science teacher. “Any classroom will be able to access data from the solar system via the Internet, and the school gets free electricity.” According to Kathy Greely, MCEP co-director, “The prominent placement of this system in our community is designed to generate greater public awareness of renewable energy options.”

Funders and partners of the project included the Penelec Sustainable Energy Fund, the College/Schools Collaborative, Vestar Inc., the Foundation for Environmental Education, American Electric Power, and Penelec.

Completing its eighth year, Creek Connections continues to build bridges between the College and more than forty regional secondary schools, fifty teachers, and three thousand students while promoting watershed education and stewardship. Increasingly, participating classes go beyond the standard water quality monitoring to take concrete action in their communities.

In partnership with Creek Connections and six other local environmental entities, Maplewood High School biology teacher Jason Drake’s students planted nearly six thousand trees in just two days this spring. The trees form a riparian buffer to protect a stream running through a Cochranton dairy farm and a natural snow fence along I-79 to save lives and taxpayer dollars (through less snowplowing and road salt usage) and also represent collaboration among stakeholders.

At Youngsville High School, teacher Laura Dorunda and Laura Tingley ’02, who is also a Creek Connections alumna, spearheaded a project that transformed a streamside dumping area behind the school into an environmental education facility.

Creek Connections itself has also grown remarkably, completing ten watershed activity loaner kits and conducting numerous teacher workshops. Be it in regional classrooms, along waterways and interstates, or on local farms, evidence of Creek Connections is everywhere.