We Share Solar

We Share Solar, the educational arm of We Care Solar, offers middle and high school students a STEM program that links practical engineering knowledge about solar energy with inspiring innovation and humanitarian service. The We Share Solar curriculum teaches young people that they can be agents for positive change, and highlights clean, renewable energy as a powerful solution to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

The program enables teachers to lead students through a hands-on educational and service-learning project, building and sharing a 12-volt DC stand-alone solar system – the “We Share Solar Suitcase” – with youth in energy-poor communities. Teachers use an existing set of Solar Suitcase equipment as a classroom model for the curriculum and they are provided with additional Solar Suitcase kits to be built for international deployment.

For the 2021-2022 school year, generous PVF donors funded 19 Solar Suitcases for science classrooms in Northern California, including Jennifer Garcia’s classroom in West Sacramento. Ms. Garcia has been involved with We Share Solar since 2015, bringing the program to her 7th and 8th grade students year after year.

The students build the suitcase from start to finish entirely on their own, split into teams of 3-4. After completing the assembly process, they test their suitcases and if successful, the lightbulb lights up!

Ms. Garcia’s classroom’s completed Solar Suitcases were shipped out today “back to [the] manufacturer to be professionally tested to assure construction quality and system reliability.” From there they will go on to their destination country, where system is paired with a battery and a solar panel, and installed in a school.