On July 6, Kristy Bock wrote a story about Northeast Elementary School here in Kinston. Northeast is one of 15 North Carolina schools awarded a solar educational package valued at $42,000. The package includes donated SunPower solar modules, a STEM curriculum, and teacher training.

Northeast must raise $6,000 to pay toward the installation. At this writing, I checked how the fundraising was going. I was disappointed. Of the $6,000 the school needs, only a little more than $400 has been donated. That $400 includes a $100 donation that I just made.

I believe one of the problems that has resulted in so few donations is that most people have not heard of the project, so they do not know of the school’s need to raise the money.

I am issuing this challenge: I need 56 people to join me in giving $100 to finish raising the $6,000 needed for the installation.

“When we learned about the NC GreenPower Grant for schools, the students, and faculty at Northeast Elementary became very excited about it and we decided to apply,” Principal Rashard Curmon told Bock.

The NC GreenPower grant can provide Northeast Elementary with an important contribution to their Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) curriculum.

“In particular, my class’s interest in solar energy started with the celebration of Earth Day. As we researched on this matter, we found an article published in March 2017 by a peer-reviewed journal named Environmental Research Letters, which thoroughly explained the importance of using solar panels in schools,” Rubi Blancas told Bock. Blancas teaches second grade and serves on the Northeast Elementary Grant Committee.

The benefits of the grant are legion. Students will learn about potential professional careers and new sustainable ways to support their communities. The materials NC GreenPower supplies will give teachers stronger tools in educating their students in STEM. Having supplemental power from solar energy is another benefit.

“This grant allows schools to install an educational solar photovoltaic (PV) array and provides comprehensive resources and training on solar education in order to use a weather station, data monitoring, and a curriculum for teachers for grades three through five,” Curmon told Bock.

“We found that it [solar energy] reduces electricity costs, but also adds to the efforts to lower the carbon footprint, which is responsible for the greenhouse effect in our planet,” said Blancas. “The carbon footprint causes temperatures to rise, contributing to imminent climate change phenomena.”

“Solar energy education is important to our students because it teaches them to be curious and understand their surroundings. This will help students relate to their living environment while developing strong Science, Technology, Engineering and Math skills,” Yoshiko Roach, the Northeast Elementary PTO President, told Bock.

You can follow the fundraising progress of Northeast Elementary on Facebook. To become part of the solution, donate by using this link on the NC Green Power web page: https://donate.ncgreenpower.org/RocketsNE. You can also donate at the school.

To help with fundraising for this project, the school has scheduled a Fun Run on Oct. 9, 2021.

From where I sit, a $42,000 return on a $6,000 investment makes sound business sense. This investment will pay healthy dividends for years to come as a generation of students benefit from the enhanced STEM curriculum. We are investing in more than solar units. We are investing in the future of the students at Northeast.

I have given. Please join me.