On Tuesday, September 10, 2013, eleven students from Harmony Academys Engineering Program participated in the installation of a solar system at the home of Israel and Sylvia Chapa in Porterville, California, a rural community nestled along the Sierra Nevada foothills in eastern Tulare County. Israel Chapa was delighted to host students from the local magnet school and was surprised to learn that 3 of the participating students had already installed two previous systems in collaboration with GRID Alternatives. Israel is looking forward to the electrical utility cost savings his new solar system will provide his family as well as helping the students gain valuable hands-on experience in solar installation.
Melanie Rubalcaba, a senior at Harmony Academy was enjoying her birthday helping install the systems inverter. Melanie plans to pursue an electrical engineering degree. She hopes to attend either UC Berkeley, UC Davis, or UC Merced next fall in order to pursue her chosen profession. Melanie stated that, it is exciting to learn of how the circuitry involved in the solar systems inverter works and how the interconnections allow the system to operate. It is fun to install solar and a great hands-on learning experience. This is my third installation with GRID.
Christian Boudreaux, also a senior, hopes to attend Cuesta College, or Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and pursue a Masters Degree in Aerospace Engineering. He plans to work for Boeing as a floor manager and ultimately start his own aerospace related company. Christian also participates in NASAs Student Launch Project and plans to successfully launch a solid fuel rocket this April in Huntsville, Alabama with a team of students that are designing and building the rocket through their program.
Ruben Alvarez, Porterville Unifieds Workbase Learning Coordinator was pleased to have students participating on the installation. He stated that students gain practical hands-on experience that reinforces their classroom work, builds critical thinking, teamwork, communications, and math skills. We are fortunate to have students of this caliber at Harmony Academy. The participants average GPA as a group is 3.8, a statistic Mr. Alvarez is extremely proud of and hopes these and similar experiences will help carry each student to greater academic success in the future.
GRID Alternatives Central Valley office has many such educational partnerships with high schools, junior colleges, and 4 year colleges and universities between Stockton and Bakersfield. Tom Esqueda, Regional Director, GRID Alternatives said that, the beauty of our work is that GRID helps families save money, provides valuable work experience and educational learning opportunities for students that also improves air quality in communities we serve. Its a win-win for everyone.