Turbine goes up at school

PALMER — Teaching the Valley’s best and brightest just got a little more energy efficient.

At noon today, officials from the Mat-Su Borough School District, Matanuska Electric Association and Susitna Energy Systems raised an electricity-generating wind turbine on the campus of Sherrod Elementary School.

The idea began in the playground, principal Mark Hoffman said. Sherrod’s recreational area is laid out to match the map of Alaska. A line of boulders marks the Aleutian Islands. A dirt hill marks Denali. A plaque signs the end of the Iditarod in Nome.

Hoffman said he heard about the plans to put wind turbines on Fire Island. He started thinking about putting mock windmills to teach the students about alternative energy.

“The project grew from there,” he said.

See more of this story in Sunday's Frontiersman