Relay Education: EcoCity Grants in Action

Everyday, Edmontonians work hard to bring our city towards a more sustainable future. Since 2015, the City of Edmonton has partnered with Alberta Ecotrust and the Edmonton Community Foundation to create EcoCity Edmonton — a program providing community grants to nonprofits, community leagues, schools and charities who are creating citizen-led urban solutions to climate change.

EcoCity Edmonton Grant winner Relay Education is inspiring students all around Edmonton to embrace a sustainable future. Relay Education is a charitable organization with the goal of educating individuals about renewable energy sources. First established in Toronto in 2011, Relay Education has made its way west to spread the news to Edmonton youth: you can have fun while having a positive impact.

We visited a Relay Education ‘Plug in the Sun’ workshop at Victoria School, where grade 5 students spent the whole day with Edmonton workshop facilitator Leah Wilson. Their morning was spent learning all about the sun - how the sun produces energy, how the tilt of the earth affects the angle for the sun, and even about photosynthesis. In the afternoon students put all of their new-found knowledge into action in a design challenge: building solar-powered cars!

Two Victoria School students attach a motor to their solar-powered car during Relay Education’s ‘Plug in the Sun’ workshop

According to Leah, it’s not all just fun and games. The solar cars the students build are a perfect hands-on learning opportunity, and the activity fits right into the grade 5 science curriculum: learning about electricity.

“They start to understand how the solar panel is connected to the motor, how that’s connected to gear and axle systems, which again is part of the curriculum,” says Leah, “and it’s just super fun!”

We asked Leah what kind of impact she thought these workshops have on Edmonton youth. “I see a lot of kids coming out of our workshops really inspired,” she says. “Inspired to learn more about renewable energy.”

Students watch excitedly as Relay Education’s program coordinator Leah helps them connect a motor to their miniature solar panel

Leah stresses the importance of making connections between energy sources and electricity consumption — something many students don’t entirely grasp. “Lots of them don’t even think about the fact that turning on the lights is power that is somehow having to be created,” Leah says. “They’ve heard it, but they don’t really understand it.”

Kelly Park, Relay Education’s Communications Manager of eight years, reinforces the idea that educating students is vital for the transition to renewable energy. “They’re the leaders of tomorrow. It’s important for youth to understand the situation we are currently in,” she stresses. “We believe that they are the ones who are going to have to deal with the situation.”

The last hour of the day was spent outside testing the solar cars under the sun. As we watched the kids revel in the excitement of their cars, we spoke with their teacher, Matthew Penner.

Our favourite car of the day, the “Cherry Bomb” ice cream truck getting ready to take a spin around the courtyard

Matthew decided to have Relay Education host a workshop for his class because of how hands-on the program is. “Our school works strongly with the kids to have real world experiences. This is a chance for them to use their knowledge of grade 5 outcomes of electricity, magnetism, mechanisms to actually build something and use it in a meaningful way.”

When asked what his favourite part of the workshop was, he told us that it was the fact that to his students,“it doesn’t feel like learning. It just feels like fun!”

Learn more about Relay Education or register for a workshop by visiting their website.

Applications for next year’s EcoCity grants open in March 2020.

This post was written by our summer students, Sarah and Sabrina. If you live in Edmonton and have a climate change story to tell, let us know! Your story could be shared here too.