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“When Hurricane Sandy hit I was at home finishing up dinner. I looked out the door and saw the water coming up my street. I called my neighbor who had a two-story house and said, ‘I’m coming over with the cat.’”

Helen Wilson, a 13-year resident of Union Beach, soon realized that she, like so many other families in this hard-hit town, would not be going home again. But now, 18 months later, Wilson is getting ready to move into a brand new, solar-powered home.

In West Sacramento, youth from River City High’s Engineering and Science Academy put their skills to use putting together a real working solar electric system for a local couple over two days.  Sponsored by the City of West Sacramento, an entire class of high school students and their electronics teacher installed the system over the course of two days.  The Academy students were enrolled in DC/AC circuitry class making this even more of a valuable experience for them. 

For many kids across the Inland Empire, summer vacation is finally here! Tests, reading assignments, and district assessments are over and happy days reign again. For 32 at-risk high school students in Arroyo Valley High School's Cultivating Organic Recycling Environmentalists (CORE) Academy in San Bernardino, this summer is enhanced by their increased awareness about solar energy and how it can help them not only in summer’s hottest days, but in their future careers.