Worthington, Ohio: Bluffsview Elementary-the first “Learning from Light” School
In 1998, American Electric Power (AEP), one of the world’s largest electricity providers, started an initiative called “Learning from Light.” It was a simple idea created by Paul Loeffelman and Dale Heydlauf and John Hollback of AEP. The plan was simple. Small solar electricity systems would be added to schools in a way in which the panels could be visible to the students at those schools. In the past many solar electricity systems had been installed so that the entire system was hidden on the roof. It was efficient, but it wasn’t all that effective.
“Out of sight, out of mind.”Paul Loeffelman had the idea to put the panels down on the ground at the top of poles so that the panels would be visible to the students at all times. The initial installation went in at Bluffsview Elementary in Worthington, Ohio.
They went further by combining a teacher training piece to the initiative and initially AEP personnel visited classrooms to help explain electricity and solar electricity to the students. This aspect of the program has been coordinated by Mary Kay Walsh and Barry Schumann over the last 8 years, but is primarily administered by the NEED program, the National Energy Education Development Project.
It was the Principal of Bluffsview, Donna Kelly, who came up with the idea of a celebration after the installation. Paul Loffelman liked the idea so much he made it part of every Learning from Light project from that day forward. At the first one at Bluffsview, they had US Congressman Ralph Regula and Dan Reicher from the US Dept of Energy, and a long list of presentations and awards by the Worthington School Board members, the Mayor of Worthington, a County Commissioner. Every student at the school wore a T shirt, had a button, and wore sunglasses. It was a huge event attended by more than 700 people and is still the model used today by solar school projects all over the US. The keys according to the rule set down by Paul Loeffelman, “one hour and we are out of there.” And this can be difficult with politicians attending every ribbon cutting because, as we all know, they often have trouble cutting their talks to 5 minutes or less, but to this day we seldom have a problem with it. In fact, at the Washington Lands ribbon cutting in Moundsville, West Virginia, the Governor spoke…and kept his talk to about 7 minutes.
