Student-Led Solar

Last spring, Luke Baumann ’15, Caitlin Porrazzo ’15, Emma Porrazzo ’15, Yousaf Khan ’16, and Neel Puri ’16 presented the Board of Trustees with their case for building a solar array on campus. The 30-minute presentation was airtight; a perfect combination of passion and reasoning — “Wall Street worthy,” said one Trustee.

Underlining the impressiveness of these fearless and intelligent students was a sincere desire to make St. Andrew’s even better. They argued how bringing cleaner energy to campus would increase our commitment to sustainability, reduce our CO2 emissions by 39 metric tons annually, and save the School thousands of dollars in the years to come.

When asked why they decided to embark on the ambitious project, Luke’s answer was simple: “My mom always told me to leave a place better than I found it.” This afternoon, their dream of making St. Andrew’s a better place moved one large step closer to reality with the public launch of the St. Andrew’s Solar Initiative.

The students have already raised nearly $120,000 to date, but need an additional $30,000 to fully fund the project. “To meet this goal,” said Luke at today’s launch, “we’re going to need everyone to pitch in.”

I pitched in to this historic initiative about an hour ago and I hope you will join me.