The whole event went very well. I’ve never seen any seventh graders being so proactive and curious about the topic. We went there with an expectation that it would be a monologue but the children asked questions and participated in discussions which helped us share our thoughts and experiences with them.

More importantly, we never felt like they were seventh graders. It was like discussing the practical implementation of clean and affordable energy with friends.

It was also interesting to see how different students have come up with different solutions and perspectives from space travel, to biofuels to power the whole world through solar.

It was refreshing to know the children were already exposed to this type of holistic thinking where not just technology but also economics and policy play a major role in shaping the future of energy.

We saw all the children, proactively, participate in the exercise that was given at the end of the workshop. The intention was to highlight what matters most when it comes to saving energy and the children assimilated it immediately.

We hope that the children will continue this process of measuring their energy consumption at home and at school and realize what their energy footprint is. Unless this is measured you could never know where action is required since they are the change makers and it is high time that big steps are taken to reverse global warming and climate change.

Overall, this workshop was to demonstrate some of the engineering challenges that may crop up with renewable energy. Identifying the problem is the first step to solving it and we feel very proud that this small workshop has inflamed the imagination of these curious minds.

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