Bowie High students energized over solar power By MATT ARMES Staff Writer
Some Bowie High students are looking to the skies to provide their classmates and teachers with a little "energetic" help.
Six students from BHS are sponsoring a student-led project titled "Make Bowie Solar" with the hope of making Bowie High a school solely operated by solar energy.
Sophomore Larry Payne, one of the project co-sponsors, said that the project offers a number of advantages to students and school employees. But most importantly, the end result would see Bowie High primarily using solar power for day-to-day school operations.
"I think that going solar is environmentally healthy, especially because the cost of energy is rising exponentially," he said.
"If Bowie High became a solar school, it could cause other schools in the area to do the same thing, and hopefully other schools in Prince George's County would catch on, too."
A slide show presentation created by Payne and BHS senior Yannick Seri offers viewers the basic reasons why Bowie High should consider becoming a solar energy school: rising energy costs, a desire for energy security and independence, and concerns about environmental pollution and global warming.
The slide show also states that making BHS a solar school would not only provide Bowie High students with the opportunity to take a hands-on approach to solar energy, it would also "generate clean energy from the sun while raising energy efficiency and environmental awareness in the local community."
"We could get the school to use 60 to 70 percent of its energy through solar energy," Payne said. "We would need to put different panels around the school building to deal with electricity and heat."
Payne said the idea for the project came from Seri, who is involved in a program called the Center for International Education. As part of the program, participants were required to build an environmentally friendly project, which led Seri to create "Make Bowie Solar."
Payne quickly got on board with the idea of making Bowie High a solar energy school and has been involved in spreading the word about the project for the past month and a half.
He also said that four other students at Bowie High are involved in marketing the idea to the local community: juniors Yvonne Esbonu and Mariam Ganiyu, and sophomores Alana Davis and Amelia Agiano.
The students have been busy showing the slide show presentation to various people and groups in the community to garner more support for the cause.
"We've already shown it to Principal (Jane) Spence," Payne said. "We also showed it to the Bowie High Parent Teacher Student Organization, and both of them approved the idea."
Payne said that the group has contacted Bowie City Hall and the Maryland State Senate to present its idea. Additionally, the group is trying to connect with different energy companies such as GE Energy, BP Solar and Kyocera Solar.
"It'd be great to make Bowie High a pilot program school," Payne said. "And we want to get the community involved as much as possible."
