Scholarships Awarded to Local Teachers

River Falls Municipal Utilities has awarded 2 scholarships to local teachers who attended educator courses in renewable energy. The program explores ways to help integrate hands-on learning activities into existing science, math, social studies and technical education curricula.

The course was held June 15-17, 2007 at the Midwest Renewable & Sustainable Living Fair in Custer, Wis. River Falls Municipal Utilities paid the course fees for Kit Luedtke who teaches at River Falls High School and Kevin Dorn from Meyer Middle School. Luedtke attended the Exploring Renewable Energy course. This course provided K-12 teachers with a unique opportunity to learn more about renewable energy technologies and applications and receive hands-on activities, project ideas, and information on renewable technologies while networking with other teachers. Dorn attended the Exploring Energy Technologies course. This course, designed specifically for technology education instructors, focused on introducing educators to the technologies of energy efficiency and renewable energy. Sessions included interaction with energy experts and a tour of local renewable homes.

The teachers attending the KEEP training received one graduate credit from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. KEEP is a product of a partnership between the Energy Center of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The program was initiated in 1995 to address a gap in student knowledge about energy issues.