Last Tuesday, the Year 6 students participated in Origin Energy Foundation ‘Lights for Learning’ program. ‘Lights for Learning’ brings Origin volunteers and school children together to make portable solar lights for Papua New Guinean communities living in energy poverty. The lights help children along the Kokoda Track to study when the sun goes down, improving their prospects of using education to break the cycle of poverty. The students learnt about the potential humanitarian impact of STEM. This program linked in with the current Year 6 Science unit on Energy and Electricity and also formed one of our Praxis projects. The program is run by the Origin Energy Foundation who have partnered with SolarBuddy, an Australian-based non-profit organisation working to improve the educational opportunities of children throughout the South Pacific, South East Asia and Africa, by distributing portable solar lights. Origin volunteers came into our classrooms to run a workshop on renewable energy, energy poverty and global citizenship. They then lead the students through an activity to assemble portable solar lights for the children of PNG. The students also wrote a letter for the recipients to accompany their light. We would like to thank Anthony Ham for his assistance in organising and running this program for our Year 6 students.

Melinda Crow 

Middle Years Teacher