WATKINS GLEN (WENY) -- The next generation of Watkins Glen High School students are in for a greener education.         

     The Appalachian Regional Commission is investing $86,000 to create a renewable energy lab on the roof of Watkins Glen High School.

     The school district will pay 102-thousand dollars for the project.

     It will be similar to this site at the middle school where they built a system from an earlier grant.

     Students will collect and analyze data from both schools as part of a new math, science, and technology curriculum.

     Alex Rundle, a junior at WGHS, said, “I’m excited to come back in September and see the kind of upgrades we're going to do. Anything that makes the school a better place is really nice.”

      Brooke Banalstine, a WGHS Junior, says, “think it's pretty cool that we're getting into the flow of things and how we're finally getting a step ahead and other schools are doing it so I think it's cool that little old Watkins Glen is. I think a lot more kids are interested in tech and math and science and stuff so I think it'd be a really good program.”

     And when it's built, this school will be one of very few in New York State with this type of program.

     Tom Phillips, Superintendent of Watkins Glen SD, says, “The fact that this came from a conceptual idea from the staff and is supported by our state and federal government speaks volumes about what is happening at Watkins Glen.”

 

     Officials hope to have the system in place before the spring.