PG&E answers special needs

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All smiles were teacher Kevin Crosby (left) and Kern County Superintendent of Schools Larry E. Reider (right), after receiving a $5,000 Bright Ideas Grant from PG&E’s Local Area Manager-Government Relations Brent Rush.

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Sunset School siblings Kaylyn, Kelsey and Kyle Brown go to work preparing potted plants for the garden next to their new solar greenhouse

It was almost as if a light bulb came on in teacher Kevin Crosby’s head when he saw that Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) was willing to invest $5,000 in schools that could harness energy to educate students. Crosby, who teaches a severely handicapped class for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools at Sunset School in Lamont, came up with the idea of creating a "solar garden and greenhouse" for his students. After lots of research and planning, Crosby applied for a "Bright Ideas Grant" under PG&E’s "Solar Schools" program in September. Word came back from the energy giant on January 2 that Crosby’s idea, "Project Solar Garden," had been selected and that he would be recipient of the maximum grant award of $5,000.

Crosby was excited about the news.

"Project Solar Garden will provide our students with hands-on scientific experiences," Crosby said. "It will definitely help our students who have developmental delays and struggle with basic academic skills. Our students learn the most from visual and kinesthetic activities. If they can see and feel the plants and dig up the soil with their own hands, they can make the connection between how a seed becomes a plant. If they are able to water the plants everyday and monitor their growth, then they will learn the growth cycle of plants."

Crosby got even more ideas when PG&E paid for him to go to Sacramento on March 18 to attend a series of workshops on wind power, solar and hydrogen energy. He also received a National Energy Development Project Science of Energy Kit to supplement his classroom curriculum with measurable experiments. Later that night, Crosby was presented with the grant at the Solar Schools Awards Banquet.

His class has been busy ever since. It now has a small solar greenhouse and fairly large vegetable garden in which the students are growing such things as radishes, peppers, strawberries, pumpkins, watermelons, lettuce, corn, squash, onions and carrots, along with many beautiful flowers.

"The greenhouse is allowing us to grow plants and continue our education year round," Crosby said. "It provides us with the ability to protect our young plants from the environment during the winter so that we can transplant them into the garden in the spring."

April 30, PG&E honored the students for what they have done with an awards ceremony for them at Sunset School. Some of the invited guests included Kern County Superintendent of Schools Larry E. Reider, Special Education Services Administrator Pam Sanders, Special Education Programs Director Julianna Gaines and Special Education Classes Principal Patty McDowell. After taking a tour of the greenhouse and garden with Crosby and the students, PG&E Local Area Manager-Government Relations Brent Rush complimented the children.

"We at PG&E are thrilled to see what you have done and how you will be able to watch vegetables grow in every season of the year," Rush said. "I understand you are even planning on making a salsa with the plants you are growing. Who knows — someday we may see ‘Sunset School Salsa’ in our supermarkets."

Reider was, likewise, duly impressed by the shared commitment of business and education.

Reider told the gathering, "This collaborative effort reminds me of what the author Herman Melville said many years ago — ‘we cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.’ So thank you PG&E, our dedicated teachers and parents who believe in these children and what you all do to help them succeed."

As the ceremonies concluded, several of the students retreated into the greenhouse to grab potted plants, adding them to the garden and sprinkling a little water. As the few remaining visitors watched, Crosby put some perspective on the seemingly simple basics of gardening being performed every school day by 40 students in four special needs classes at Sunset.

"They are learning the importance of the sun for growing food, warmth, drying clothes, solar energy and much more," Crosby said. "They can see how natural resources such as water, sun, soil and air effect growth and how the plants grow toward the light. Most of all, they understand, now, that what they are growing is food that they can eat."


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