Solar Landscape, a leading New Jersey developer, designer, installer, owner and operator of community solar and solar energy solutions, and nonprofit Sustainable Jersey City will award $20,000 in scholarships to 23 New Jersey students as part of the Community Sustainability Challenge Scholarships.
Three students at McNair Academic High School in Jersey City (Harsh Patel, Eshaan Sharma and Ankit Mithbavkar) earned first place for their proposal for more sustainable community garden irrigation.
Nayeli Rojas of Brick High School was awarded second place for a proposal to reduce food waste at her school.
Students at Middlesex County Academy for Science, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies and Voorhees High School tied for third place.
The students at Middlesex County Academy for Science, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies proposed technology to increase the efficiency of solar panels by reducing overheating through a combination of hydrogels and radiative cooling systems.
All of the students participated in Solar Landscape’s Green Ambassador Program, which provides training for high school students interested in clean energy. After attending five online webinars hosted by Solar Landscape, students submitted videos that outlined an idea that either improves on an existing product, making it more sustainable, or an action plan that will strengthen the sustainability efforts of a community.
“Today’s students are tomorrow’s clean energy engineers, researchers and leaders,” Solar Landscape CEO Shaun Keegan said. “Educating New Jersey’s kids about sustainability will be key to our long-term success fighting climate change.
“The students who participated in our Green Ambassador Program are already thinking about future careers. We hope that this program puts them on a path toward meaningful jobs in clean energy and sustainability.”
Debra Italiano, founder and president of Sustainable Jersey City, agreed.
“It is always heartening to see young minds thinking about solving challenges to make our world cleaner, greener and more sustainable,” she said.
The program is one part of Solar Landscape’s education and workforce development efforts to support the New Jersey Office of Clean Energy’s Community Solar Pilot Program.
