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With sun-shaped glasses and solar bead bracelets, King’s Fork High School students, staff, and officials participated in an April “solarbration” for the new Solar for Students program.

Around 100 students and teachers broke away from class on Tuesday, April 30, to mark KFHS joining the program and the installation of a solar array aimed to help educate children on how sunlight is converted into electrical energy. At peak output, the 1.2-kilowatt panel creates enough energy to power 18 desktop computers while including a visual display to show how much energy is generated at any time.

The program follows Dominion Energy’s transition into clean energy, with solar energy playing a key role. Created in 2015 as a partnership between Dominion and the National Energy Education Development (NEED) project, it is funded by the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation. 

King’s Fork High School Chemistry Instructor Sharon Criner says they are “very excited” to have the program at SPS.

“Our students will get to see firsthand how solar energy works and can analyze data coming in from the panels in real-time,” Criner said. “It is our hope that our students will learn to become well informed advocates towards a sustainable future and environmental stewardship.”

Likewise, Dominion Energy Spokesperson Timothy Eberly talked about the importance of educating students about clean energy.

“Solar for Students is a fantastic program because we need everyone – including students – to understand the value of the sun and clean energy,” Eberly said. “These students are the next generation in Hampton Roads. They’re our future Dominion Energy engineers, line workers and solar facility technicians.”

For more information on Solar for Students, go to dominionenergy.com.