While thousands of students in Chattanooga are wrapping up the end of the year with finals and graduation ceremonies, a small group of high schoolers at one school are heading into the summer with a few major projects under their belts.
Early this semester, the combined brainpower of Red Bank High School's STEM and Science Research classes set out to answer a question: "How can we harness solar power and use it to make a real impact on the community?"
Leah Keith-Houle works with students as senior Alex Chanbers, right, and others participate in a GIS mapping class at Red Bank High School on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014.With 37 students involved, that question elicited a lot of answers, and just a few months later, the results are impressive.
"When you present a large problem and turn students loose, they come up with ideas we never would have thought of," said Keri Randolph, assistant superintendent for the Hamilton County Department of Education.
By the end of the year, students had created a solar-powered informational kiosk, an online video game and even a 3-D-printed solution to indoor lighting problems in the developing world.
On Tuesday, the students and their teachers invited a small group of visitors and representatives from EPB, their partnering organization, to a see their work at a "Show & Tell for Sustainability," where students walked through everything they had built.
EPB spokesman John Pless said part of the reason the company partnered with Red Bank High School is because the students were fulfilling the same mission the the utility's employees have set for themselves, which is to improve the quality of life across the board for the communities they touch.
"We're thrilled the students here are taking their knowledge and skills to find real-world solutions." Pless said.
And for the students, it's a treat to see their hard work come to frution.
"It's kind of amazing to see how fast it all happened. We just had the idea and ran with it," said freshman Jackson Hash, as he stood next to the kiosk he helped construct.
A TV was mounted on the front with overhead lights and informational boards about solar energy on the sides, while two solar panels were wired to an inverter on the back.
"Solar power has been getting a lot better over the years, and it can generate a lot more power," Hash said.
The kiosk could be set up in public spaces to educate passersby about the advantages of solar energy as a renewable energy source and it could be implemented in Chattanooga, but one of the teachers, Caleb Bagby, said several of the projects stretched even farther.
"These weren't just local projects, but projects that can be global," Bagby said.
Demarqus Clark, a senior, wanted to help design a better solution for homes in developing nations that aren't wired for electricity but have jammed plastic bottles through holes in the roof for lighting.
He said the makeshift solution lets rain in because the bottles don't have a watertight seal. The solution was a low-cost gasket that can be built, installed and replaced with ease.
"This was something easy that everybody could have." he said.
A junior, Nicholas Holladay-Elser, contributed his own expertise with 3-D printing to help design and produce the gasket, and now the design can easily be sent around the county to produce the helpful device wherever there's a 3-D printer.
But that doesn't mean getting the design ready in the first place was easy.
"Not only do you have to wait for the print, you have to tweak it as problems arise," he said. "You have to be really patient, but it's really rewarding when you finally get a design that works."
Contact staff writer Emmett Gienapp at egienapp@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731.