Week 2 - A visit from the local press

On Monday, we took our first field trip.  We went to Southern California Edison's training facility in Irwindale.  The students in the Summer Success Academy got the grand tour of the learning center.  They saw new options for home and business lighting and new efficiency options for manufacturing (an SCE engineer happened to be in the room and lead the kids on an impromptu tour). We heard a talk on electrical safety and the kids got to spend time in the home of the future (with all kinds of smart technology).

Tuesday was a whirlwind day. 

We kicked it off by building solar cookers.  These are great little kits purchased from Amazon for around $12 each.  While mainly a demonstration unit, the metal cooker that is included got rather hot.  We used these cookers to make hot chocolate sauce to go on the ice cream we had later in the day.

After my presentation on solar energy, the students each got to build a solar car (shown here in the picture to the right).  These cars came from a company named Pitsco (www.pitsco.com).  Pitsco was great to work with.  They gave me an educational discount on the cars, and, when some of the little pieces went missing - they shipped me replacement parts for free (something that just won't happen when you buy products made and shipped from outside the USA).

The students then took their cars out into sunlight (a requirement for a solar car) to give them a test run.

The day wrapped up with a great talk from SolarCity - the leading solar panel installer in our area.  The main point of the talk was that a job in the solar field requires more than a high school diploma. Students interested in this field need to stay in school.

Ice cream with hot chocolate sauce wrapped up the day - always a kid favorite.

Members of the local press came to the campus on Tuesday to learn about the Summer Success Academy.  We made the paper! http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/ci_20999503/inland-foster-teens-participate-summer-academy?IADID=Search-www.redlandsdailyfacts.com-www.redlandsdailyfacts.com&IADID=Search-www.redlandsdailyfacts.com-www.redlandsdailyfacts.com&IADID=Search-www.redlandsdailyfacts.com-www.redlandsdailyfacts.com