News Release

Wind1-Wind6 Cutlines for photos at end of release Click to Enlarge Images

This Wednesday, Cutler’s students will throw the switch on a wind turbine they helped install with the support of teachers and administrators, community members, state and federal agencies, a charitable foundation and growing national interest in renewable energy. It is the culmination of student work inside and outside the classroom, from researching to building functional models.

“I’ve never done a project like this before. I told the kids from the very beginning we’d be learning together,” Cutler said. “They have watched it come to fruition and even got to help put it together. What an experience. They absolutely were enthralled with it.”

Their project is part of an innovative educational program called Wind for Schools (WfS), now active in Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota. WfS is an outreach vehicle of Wind Powering America, a U.S. Department of Energy initiative designed to support the progress of wind technology, create new jobs, improve environmental quality and raise awareness about wind energy.

The turbine would not be turning without Boise State. Building on existing wind energy research, it became Wind Powering America’s official Wind Application Center for Idaho in May and facilitated the inaugural project in Jerome. Coordinator and Boise State research engineer Todd Haynes said the center aims to teach young people, engage communities and give engineering graduates unique preparation for the work force.

“There is a growing sense that we must engage young people in energy and climate challenges because they need to know that their decisions about energy use matter,” said John Gardner, associate vice president for energy research, policy and sustainability at Boise State. “This program complements our research and teaching agenda in the College of Engineering. We’re giving engineering students unprecedented opportunity to get involved in all aspects of wind farm development, including resource assessment, planning and zoning, permits and actual erection of the tower and turbine.”

Idaho currently is ranked 13th in the nation for wind energy potential, but Haynes said that potential hasn’t been developed very well. That’s part of the reason Idaho was chosen for WfS, and community interest and contributions have been tremendous.

The Jerome School District came up with program seed money and the cost of the tower. Donors and volunteers covered labor and the rest of the materials, from the concrete foundation built by Starr Corporation in Twin Falls to the copper wire given by Portneuf Electric in Pocatello to the brick sign crafted by Lee Nunnally Masonry in Jerome. Meridian’s H&H Utility Contractors and Wood River Valley-based Tidwell Idaho Foundation both generously offered to partner with Boise State on Idaho’s WfS program as a whole.

“It is always amazing to me when you go to outside entities and ask for their help, how willing they are to support what we are doing in education,” said Cutler, who taught the future president of Starr Corporation in one of her first classes in Twin Falls about 20 years ago.

Jerome Middle School’s turbine already is inspiring new math, science, English and history concepts in the classroom, and Cutler hopes her Gifted Program students will speak to the younger kids in the adjoining elementary school about their wind energy adventure.

“I don’t even know how to put into words what it means to be at the forefront of something that really needs to happen in our nation, that the kids are seeing that and know we’ve got to change,” she said, adding that students aren’t the only ones who are excited. “You would not believe how many people have been contacting me wanting to know about this. It was so exciting to see that. I think things like that indicate that people are becoming more aware, understanding the possibilities.”

“This is education at its best,” added retired astronaut and Boise State distinguished educator in residence Barbara Morgan, who will speak at the dedication. “The kids in this community are working together on real world science and engineering. It’s fun, and it helps our world.”

For more information, contact Erin Ryan, communications specialist, at (208) 426-4910 or erinryan@boisestate.edu. To read a story about the national Wind for Schools program featuring the Jerome installation, visit http://www.nrel.gov. 

Boise State University is “The New U Rising” with record student enrollment, new academic buildings, additional degree programs and a growing research agenda. Learn more at www.boisestate.edu.

For cutlines:

All photos by Stephanie Lively, a Boise State University mechanical engineering student and employee of the university’s Wind Application Center, which serves the Wind for Schools program.

Wind1: (front row from left) Jerome Middle School Gifted Program students Reagan Jones, Joanie Mapes, (back row from left) Daniel Hilarides, Eric Nordquist, Daxton Davis and Jonathon Blackburn with teacher Katie Cutler and the blades of the Skystream wind turbine they helped install.

Wind2: Volunteers from H&H Utility Contractors, Inc., lift the turbine into place. (Casey Belvoir, operating crane; Shaun Thacker in bucket; Eric Boswell kneeling in yellow vest. Also pictured are Idaho WfS State Facilitator Brian Jackson of Renaissance Engineering & Design, in blue vest and blue hardhat; and Jerome Middle School teacher and WfS project champion Katie Cutler.)

Wind3: Jerome Middle School students Jonathon Blackburn and Daniel Hilarides assist Boise State mechanical engineering student Zach Parker attach blades to the rotor.

Wind4: Jerome Middle School students Eric Nordquist and Jonathon Blackburn assist Boise State mechanical engineering student Zach Parker attach blades to the rotor.

Wind5: A team of volunteers and students spins the turbine’s rotor assembly onto the shaft. (Boise State University graduate Matt Heath of H&H Utility Contractors, Inc., with vest; Rick Ames, Maintenance Manager of Jerome School District kneeling, and students Eric Nordquist, Jonathon Blackburn, Reagan Jones and Joanie Mapes in the blue hard hat.)

Wind6: Volunteers from H&H Utility Contractors, Inc., lift the turbine into place.
 

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Last reviewed on Monday, November 10, 2008