On October 14, fifth grade students at Bryan Elementary School in Bryan, Ohio, took part in a Solar STEM Design Challenge, piloting new solar house kit lessons developed by Ohio Energy Project (OEP) with support from Madison Energy Infrastructure's Solar Empowered Schools program. Bryan students were the first in the state to try the lessons, which OEP plans to extend to reach more classrooms across Ohio.

The curriculum was more than a year in the making. OEP, an Ohio-based nonprofit dedicated to energy education, built the program to align with Ohio's Learning Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards, with Solar Empowered Schools collaborating, advising, and supporting development along the way. Madison sponsored a teacher training workshop and classroom activity kits for Bryan Elementary School.

A Real Project Right Down the Road

Bryan was the ideal fit for this pilot: Madison Energy Infrastructure and Eitri Foundry are completing a new solar array for Bryan Municipal Utilities (BMU) just a few miles from the school, on track to come online this November. Several students said their school bus drives right past the array, and one recalled passing it on the way home from a birthday party. For these students, solar energy is not an abstract idea; it is a visible part of their own community, generating power close to home.

Madison and Eitri Foundry presented on the array, solar careers, and how solar power works, while Charlotte Knisely of BMU talked with students about where their power comes from and how public power serves the community. As she explained, because BMU is a municipally owned utility, residents like them already “own a little of our energy utility.”

The day built toward a culminating activity: students worked in teams to build and connect their own miniature solar-powered houses, wiring solar panels to lights, fans, and buzzers much like the full-scale array taking shape nearby. By the end, they were using terms like open circuit and closed circuit, troubleshooting their own builds along the way.

Building Energy Literacy, One Classroom at a Time

OEP will use feedback from Bryan's students and teachers to continue refining the curriculum. For now, Bryan Elementary students have a front-row seat to both the science and the real-world application of solar energy, from the circuits in their hands to the array taking shape down the street.

Once complete, the Bryan solar array will generate approximately 6 GWh of clean energy per year from 8,000 panels, enough to power more than 600 homes, while delivering BMU a flat, lower-than-market energy rate for 30 years. It's a local example of Madison's broader Community Infrastructure initiative, which pairs reliable, affordable clean energy with lasting benefits for the communities it serves, from the rate stability BMU can offer its ratepayers to the lessons Bryan Elementary students carried home today.

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