Solar PV Cell Fundraiser
In August 2021, NC GreenPower selected certain schools around the state that were eligible for PV installations, one of them being John T. Hoggard High School. However, this was not a free project; there was a total of $9,000 that needed to be raised for this installation. To me, this was an opportunity to take initiative, to be a leader, and to amplify the usage of renewable energy forms such as solar.
It was a project that would save school costs in the form of energy, provide more hands-on learning opportunities for students, and allow energy to be utilized more effectively. The transition to solar is going all around the world and implementing this into my school would provide an overall more enhanced educational experience for years to come.
In order to take action on this issue I had to start somewhere. First I sent an email to our school’s administration asking for the best way to support the issue. Then, I was able to spread awareness of the fundraiser by making sure it was on the school announcements for a week. Additionally, I started sending emails to friends, family, non-governmental organizations, and local environmental activists I had connections with to ask them whether they would be willing to chip in even a dollar to support the prospective installation. The donation page for Hoggard High School was on NC GreenPower’s website so I was able to insert the donation page link into the emails to make the process more convenient. The only challenge we had was time; we needed all donations by October 2021. This is why I had to make sure that I sent as many emails upon the first day of the fundraiser’s initiation.
After much hard work of advertising the fundraiser and explaining to others what it would do for our school, we met our $9,000 goal. The school administration helped authorize donations from large corporations and I got many individual donations especially from local environmental organizations such as the Cape Fear Sierra Club and the Southern Forests Conservation Coalition. As a student fundraiser I raised the most funds individually which was a total of $1,210.
I learned from this event that whatever you want to achieve is possible if you put enough effort into it. Taking the initiative to spread awareness of the fundraiser was able to get us many donations. If I were to do anything different it would have been to simply reach out to even more people. I was a little skeptical that not many people would donate but we received way more donations beyond our expectations. There are a surprising amount of climate stewards out there who want to make a difference, all you have to do is to reach out to them.
Project Year: 2021
Completed by: Sheel Patel
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