TVA STEM Classroom Grant presented to Humboldt Jr. And Sr. High School
HUMBOLDT, Tenn. — One local school received a special gift that will be used for the students’ education.
The TVA STEM Classroom Grant was presented to Humboldt Jr. And Sr. High School Tuesday morning.
Valdimir Valdez, a chemistry and physical science teacher at the school, received the check and spoke to representatives with TVA about their plans. Valdez says this will be used to teach the students in a unique way.
“So this grant, we are going to use the money we received to teach and learn about how we are going to produce solar power, and how do we produce wind power,” Valdez said. “So this is basically to give our students a deeper understanding of how do we get power from renewable energy sources.”
However, these students are not going to learn this stuff only from a textbook. Valdez says they will be using this grant to have solar panels and a wind turbine to measure their production. He also says that being able to have these things in person will be a huge help for the students.
“By having them do most of the work, hopefully this will give them a more in-depth type knowledge than just reading about it or writing about it,” said Valdez. “Because know they’re going to get their hands-on. What does the battery look like? What does the inverter look like? How do you connect a battery to an inverter? How do you connect the battery to the solar panel?”
Last year, TVA awarded $1 million in grants to schools during this program and they have decided to go even bigger this year. Jimmy Allen, the customer relations manager for TVA, tells us why.
“This is part of a $1.5 million grant program that is funded by TVA and some of our retirees from TVA,” Allen said. “We take a great interest in the STEM sciences and all of the aspects of STEM, because for TVA and our local power companies like Humboldt Utilities, we hire and employ folks who are in this kind of area whether its accounting, math, or engineering.”
Valdez talked about how he hopes to get this program started next fall with the help of the students building the materials.
The TVA representatives said they were eager to come back and see all of the students’ hard work once they are finished.
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