'They are so curious': CKS students teach about alternative energy - Rutland Herald

Albert J. Marro / Staff Photo

Seventh- and eighth-grade students at Christ the King School in Rutland teach younger students about renewable energy Tuesday. From left, Rocco MacLachlan, Ben Penzak and Joe Gides run tests on a craft designed by Anna Kerr, right.

They sift through their binders, quietly discussing the lessons they have planned for the rest of the week for their third-graders.

They chat amongst themselves, each assigning different sections of the lesson and taking notes here and there.

They have serious looks on their faces, but anyone looking on might smile.

The lesson planners are seventh-graders from Christ the King School, stepping into the role of educators as part of the Vermont Energy Education Program called TRY â€" Teens Reaching Youth.

Each of the four students had to apply and complete training to be certified to teach younger kids at Christ the King.

For the past several Fridays, the students have been dedicating an hour of time to teaching kids in younger grades the benefits of alternative energy.

“It's really fun to teach them,” said Rocco MacLachlan, one of the student educators. “They are so curious, creative and can be really funny.”

The younger students, in kindergarten through third grade, have been discovering how wind can push a boat differently depending on the shape and quantity of the sails.

They have also been dabbling in solar, how trees can have a big impact on where to build a home and how different materials are more easily penetrated or blocked by the sun.

Tuesday afternoon the seventh-graders were putting their lessons to the test, allowing some younger students to take Friday's lesson plan for a spin. Anna Kerr, 11, and her friend Maeve MacLachlan, 11, built boats out of art materials and then tested them on a string bridge in front of a fan.

Kerr's boat zipped across the line when the fan was turned on, while Maeve MacLachlan's boat got about halfway down the bridge before coming to a slow halt.

The older students asked her to observe her boat, then go back to the material drawing board to see where she might be able to make some improvements.

“I really like the part of this when the kids work through a problem until they have a better solution,” said Joe Gides, 13. “It's encouraging. And when you think about it, it's engineering, and we do a lot of engineering every day.”

Gides said everything from building a snow fort to playing with Legos is a form of engineering.

Kerr took a look at her boat and then compared it to her friend's.

“I think mine worked because I had two different sails on it,” she said. “It let more wind get behind it and push it along.”

The VEEP instructor is Laura MacLachlan, and she said the TRY program is so much more than young adults helping out younger kids.

“They are making connections between science, engineering and their every day lives,” she said. “They are also taking on a leadership role, which will help them in so many ways down the road.”

Ben Pencak, 12, said he applied for the program because he was interested in learning how to teach people.

“It's been fun seeing how the kids have learned during the lessons,” he said.

He might one day want to give teaching a try as a career.

Gides said his mom teaches kids the same age as him, and that he has a new respect and understanding about how hard she works.

“This can be tricky stuff,” he said, laughing.

But they also find it rewarding.

The younger students will be making functioning windmills this week. As the program nears its end, they will then present everything they have learned to their parents during an evening show-and-tell.

Jacob Pickielnok said his favorite part is seeing how the kids make serious progress.

“On the first day, a few weeks ago, the kids didn't really have any idea what they were doing during the lessons,” he said. “They didn't do much right. But now they are doing really well. And they are having fun, and that's fun for us.”

bryanna.allen@rutlandherald.com