Thanks to Sitka Conservation Society’s Summer Intern, Kitt Urdang, eighteen Sitka youth attended the first-ever Southeast Renewable Energy Camp August 7th through 10th, where they explored electric cars, solar panels, wind turbines, and the heart of Sitka’s electrical power system, the Blue Lake Dam and Powerhouse.
alongside Blue Lake River.
When students weren’t on field trips, they settled down at Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School and busied themselves with energy experiments and constructing their own tiny house with a solar panel, wind turbine and LED lights.
Students were also visited by local experts who discussed how their livelihoods involve energy and operate on principals of sustainability.
Four days were over faster than anyone imagined as family and friends gathered to admire the students’ handiwork as they went home with their own tiny house powered with renewable energy – to remind them of what they learned in the first annual Southeast Renewable Energy Camp.
It takes a lot of energy to organize an energy camp for the first time. Thanks to Sitka Conservation Society for hosting Kitt and for inviting REAP to provide renewable energy curriculum and materials, as well as to Sitka Parks and Recreation, Sitka Sound Science Center, and Sitka Schools for their generous contributions of time and resources.
Thank you, SSP, for your partnership.
And thank you, Kitt, for organizing the inaugural gathering!