Scott Cain is a Science and Math teacher at Christian Learning Center, Fort Scott.
Recently, a team of boys that he taught won the top prize at the first-ever SunPowered Student Challenge, a statewide solar energy competition founded by the Kansas Electric Cooperatives, Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative, Ten80 Education, and Pitsco Education.
Sam Love (16), Ethan Hill (17), James Kobernat (17), and Ryan Koch (18) were the students who were a part of the CLC team, each winning a $1,000 scholarship.
Sam’s parents are Kelly and Jason Love, Fort Scott; Ethan’s parents are Garrett and Kaleigh Hill, Nevada, MO; Jame’s parents are Dan and Amy Kobernat, Fort Scott; and Ryan’s parents are Jason and Holly Koch, Uniontown.
Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative sponsored the team.
The boys were taught in a curriculum before the competition: how to wire circuits in series and in parallel, how types of circuits affect amps and volts, how to evaluate a site for optimal placement of solar panels, how to use latitude, time of year, and nearby obstacles, such as trees to angle solar panels for maximum output, how to consider the day-time usage of a household to calculate number of panels, where they should be located, and cost of installation.
“The competition involved several categories of scoring, said teacher Scott Cain. “The highest total point scored was the winner.”
What the students were judged on:
- Skills challenges: a problem to solve and calculate.
- A slideshow presentation to a panel talking about what they had learned through the process of the semester and the curriculum
- Branding and Curb Appeal (how the teams constructed house looked, the matching t-shirts, etc.)
- A cooperative challenge solving a problem with other teams
- Keeping a logbook of the curriculum
- Given daytime household usage and criteria of a house’s location, etc., the team designed a mount of the proper type of solar cells to reach a desired output, while maintaining a given range of volts.
About the private school, taken from its website:
The Christian Learning Center (CLC) was founded in 2000, by Mr. Harold Kraft.
MISSION STATEMENT
“To educate and encourage students to live a Christ-centered life; to impart necessary skills to meet the demands of an ever-changing world; and to develop mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical strengths so that each child may live up to his or her God-given talents in the surroundings of a stable, Christian school environment.”
We fulfill this mission by assisting Christian parents in performing their Biblical responsibility to “train up a child in the way he should go” and “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:4). All subjects are taught from a Biblical worldview. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7).
Congratulations to these young students and their teacher. There is obviously quality learning happening at this school within the structure of well prepared teachers and a supportive school environment. Praise God that this opportunity continues to flourish in schools like the Christian Learning Center. Pray for children in public schools.