Going Green
Middle school students learn about renewable energy during summer camp
Parker Primus didn’t want to make a miniature wind turbine. He wanted to make the best wind turbine.
“I’m kind of a competitive person,” said Primus, a rising seventh grader at C.M. Eppes Middle School in Greenville.
Primus was among two dozen students to participate in the Renewable Energy and Green Manufacturing Academy through East Carolina University’s Department of Technology Systems. With support from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the two-week summer day camp focused on renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and hydrokinetics through hands-on learning modules, presentations and field trips.
Antiajiah Jenkins, left, a rising eighth grader at Stokes Middle School, accepts a certificate and gift during a ceremony at the end of the camp.
The camp concluded last week with final student presentations in which Primus and his team celebrated their wind turbine. The key was a bigger gear that helped turn six fan blades, doubling the standard three.
“Me and my friend Brian, we were like, ‘How can we make this faster than all the other ones?’ We got inspiration from Jayden to use the big gear, and then was saw the spare pieces of wood around and we thought, ‘Why don’t we use that and maybe it’ll go faster,’ and it did,” Primus said.
The camp included hands-on activities as well as field trips to ECU’s steam plant and a solar energy farm. The goal is to help students understand the availability of renewable energy sources and how they can be used in industry.
“It put it in perspective like how the world is because I wasn’t really thinking about how fossil fuels can be harmful,” Primus said. “They found a way to make learning about renewable energy fun, and that’s what I really liked about this camp.”
Antiajiah Jenkins, a rising eighth grader at Stokes Middle School in Pitt County, said she enjoyed the hands-on activities as well as some of the games included in the camp.
“We raced to see who could finish something first and whose turbines could be the fastest,” she said.
Jenkins called the camp important for students her age.
“I think that this camp is very good for kids,” she said. “It’s a very good learning experience for everybody, especially with us going to be young adults to be able to communicate with each other, learn more, and it’s hands-on. We’re learning different types of activities.”
Dr. Tijjani “TJ” Mohammed, chair of the Department of Technology Systems, said the students learned what is possible through the camp.
“I hope that this summer camp opened their eyes to what could be,” he said. “Things that they thought they probably couldn’t do, suddenly they can do. There are so many opportunities to learn and be successful.”
Dr. Harry Ploehn, dean of the College of Engineering and Technology, said the campers made new friends, had fun and learned something new. He said math, science and technology can open many doors for the students.
“You can do this for your whole life,” he said. “You can have a great life working on something that’s important for all of us, working on science, engineering and technology problems. You can have fun but also have a great impact.”
Mecca Primus, Parker’s mother, knew ECU and the camp would be perfect to enhance her son’s interest in science, technology, engineering and math. After all, she’s an ECU student herself in hospitality management, with a concentration in convention and special events management.
“I was so excited about the opportunity when I got the email about the summer camp,” she said. “He had so much fun. It was everything they said and more.”
Parker Primus described the camp as a good way to spend part of his summer.
“It was a really fun camp, very interesting, and I made new friends. That was one thing I really liked about it,” he said. “I got to engage with a bunch of people, which is something you don’t get to do during the summer all the time. Meeting new people — I knew one person coming to this — but I learned a lot about some people I never knew.”
Dr. Ranjeet Agarwala, associate professor in the Department of Technology Systems, led the camp with support from fellow faculty members Dr. M.M. Lekhon Alam, Dr. Kanchan Das and Dr. Tarek Abdel-Salam. ECU students Alexandra Anaya Ortiz and Jakob Beavin worked as camp counselors, helping guide the students through activities.