First Energy hosts project presentations
Students from Blackhawk High School presented findings this week to engineers at First Energy who visited the informal displays showing how they’d approach challenges related to nuclear energy.
The students embarked on the projects as participants in our Student Powered Solutions program.
The challenges ranged from aesthetic to scientific, with some teams working on designs to improve the appearance of cooling towers, others working on ways to reduce nucleotide discharges and still others weighing the advantages and disadvantages of alternative forms of power production.
Five classes, ranging from art and algebra to environmental science and physics, took part. A group of students in the school’s Technology Students Association (TSA) also participated with a demonstration of a bicycle that produced power, turning kinetic energy into electricity through a small generator. They used the power to charge cellphones and spin a wheel to make spatter paintings.
For Jacob, a sophomore who participates in TSA, working with the engineers at First Energy was an opportunity “work on something where you get the chance to talk to the people who really do it.”
“You get a lot more out of it because of that,” he said.
For Brandon, who worked on a project that explored the advantages and disadvantages of geothermal power production in comparison to nuclear, “It was just good to have a real challenge.”
His teammate Elijah said presenting the projects at display stations “really helps your public speaking skills.”
