february 2017
FOCUSING ON RENEWABLE ENGERY pg. 4
Wichita Family • February 2017 - 1
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Todd Vogts
Publisher Todd Vogts publisher@wichitafamily.com
Wichita Family Magazine is published 12 times a year by Lucky 7 Publishing LLC. Wichita Family Magazine is available free, at schools, stores, restaurants, libraries, retailers and local attractions, as well as other places families frequent. For a complete list of where to find Wichita Family, or for subscription rates, email us at publisher@wichitafamily.com or visit our website at www.wichitafamily.com. Copyright 2017 by Lucky 7 Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. Wichita Family Magazine is not responsible for errors, omissions or contest fulfillment from third parties. Reproduction in part or in whole without written permission is strictly prohibited. Wichita Family is distributed free of charge. The magazine’s advertisers make this possible, so support them! We reserve the right to edit submitted material. All submissions will be considered for publication, but we reserve the right to refuse material. Materials will not be returned. Any editorial content or advertising published is the property of Lucky 7 Publishing LLC. 2 - www.wichitafamily.com
Message from the Publisher
Importance of Journalism TODD VOGTS
J
Publisher
ournalism is under attack, and, as a journalist and member of a democratic society, I feel it important to do whatever I can to defend journalists and the industry as a whole, especially in the polarizing political climate we currently live in. Journalists and the organizations they work may not always get everything right, but they are working to perform an important duty. They are informing the public about matters of significance to society. Sometimes this society consists of the local community, and other times it concerns national and international happenings. A free press is the cornerstone of a democratic society, as is made clear in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Journalists work to keep government accountable, regardless of who the president is or which party controls Congress. The force the government, which is supposed to be working for the people, to operate out in the open so society knows
what its tax dollars are being spent on. There are outliers in the industry, just as there are in an sector, that degrade the reputation of everyone else. The “fake news” phenomenon doesn’t help the reputation of journalism, but those taking part in “fake news” aren’t creating journalism. In an effort to support good journalism, this month’s cover feature consists of work from student journalists. Now more than ever, when there is so much negativity being thrown toward journalism, we need to support budding journalists as they work on the craft that is so important to our society so they might go out into the world and be able to do good work in telling truth and informing the masses. I hope you enjoy their work and support your local journalism in all ways posTodd Vogts publisher@wichitafamily.com sible. Wichita Family • February 2017 - 3
The
Biggest Fan
Wind Turbine ignites unique opportunities, national spotlight Will Dutton
Special to WFM
In an April 2016 Topeka Capital-Journal article, Kansas was characterized as “the Saudi Arabia of Wind.” That’s nothing new to the science department at Sterling High School, located 73 miles northwest of Wichita. They’ve been looking at renewable energy for several years already. Many students driving to school have a specific parking spot and route they take every day. Some choose to park in front of the district office while others may park by the band room. Most, however, park by the softball fields and wellness center. Some of these people are in fact, parking under one of the most notable features of Sterling High School, but most don’t even realize it is spinning above them. The high school’s wind turbine sits on the northwest corner of campus and is actually on the practice field where the football team prepares for each game. “There’s a constant ringing in our ears, but we get used to it,” Senior Defensive End Ethan Proffitt said. “You kinda don’t notice it in practice, but during like sprints and stuff when we run around the field you have to kinda like change your route sometimes so you don’t run into it.”
An article to remember Chemistry teacher Dan Whisler couldn’t let the chance 4 - www.wichitafamily.com
(Photo by Will Dutton,Special to WFM)
to install a wind turbine slip past him. “It was actually during the summer time,” Whisler said. “There was an article on the front page of the Hutchinson News about wind energy and the wind for schools program. Energy education was the whole idea. WestarEnergy was sponsoring this program, and they were looking for schools that might be interested in starting a wind energy program.” Eager about the opportunity in front of him, Whisler made his way to Sterling to seek out district superintendent Fred Dierksen. “I drove over to visit with Dr. Dierksen that day, and before I got there one of the board members had already been in to see him about it,” Whisler said. That board member was Dave Wilson, founder of local business Sterling Services. “Wind energy was very transcendent at the time,” Wilson said. “It seemed clear, still does, that we wanted our students to have exposure to the technology should they choose a career in the field.” Several City of Sterling workers put many hours into installing the turbine. “A number of the city employees, Dicko Jones, Tim Hendricks, they were involved in installing our turbine and hooking it up,” Whisler said. “‘Whitey’ he was the one that did the foundation and groundwork. This project would not have happened without the partnership, the involvement of the City of Sterling.” In the fall of 2007, the high school was selected by “The Wind for Schools Project” to be the very first school involved with the project to install a 2.4 kilowatt Skystream wind turbine. “One of the reasons we were selected when we wrote up our grant, it was a community effort to make it happen,” Whisler said. “A selling point for the grant.” Among other people who helped during the process, Dr. Ruth Miller of Kansas State University also played a part. “She is an electrical engineer at KState and she is the coordinator for the Kansas Wind for Schools Program,” Whisler said. “She is a leader in the state in terms of energy education.”
(Photo by Raegan Mantz, Special to WFM) Sterling High School junior Jeffrey Hartman experiments with his turbine blade design. He created this during his afternoon environmental science class.
Connection to the classroom One of the requirements for the project stated, “Schools receiving WFS Turbines are expected to incorporate education about wind energy into their science, math, and social studies curricula, including how turbines work and how to collect, process and understand the data the turbines will provide.” Whisler believes his students have taken away more from this component than data collection of the school’s own turbine. “This whole project is how we got started with Environmental Science and Economics as the same curriculum,” Whisler said. “We haven’t used it as much in terms of the data collection, because of the problems we’ve
gone through as far as getting the data. The hands-on activities in the classroom are something we’ve used more. It’s hands on and the students are actually involved in the data collection and analysis.”
Challenge accepted The entire reason why students have been able to compete in KidWind challenges over the years correlates with the arrival of our wind turbine. “Our big turbine led to the KidWind project, and our involvement in that, and that’s what got us started in all the KidWind challenges and everything we’ve done that way,” Whisler said. Although the KidWind project is Wichita Family • February 2017 - 5
(Photo by Lindsay Gilmore, Special to WFM) Dan Whisler poses with the district’s Chevy Volt. Whisler has driven the vehicle to school most days since the project began as part of his evironmental science class, and his students use data from his trips for energy analysis.
still relatively new, Whisler believes more and more schools are being introduced annually. “It’s one now that’s growing across the country,” Whisler said. “Thanks to funding, part of it came from the Rice County coalition, and part of it was a grant from Dr. Miller, I received funding as an educator to go to a oneweek workshop in Maine. I flew there for a week and had training from the KidWind director and office staff and became what they refer to as a wind senator.” Whisler has used the experience to train more people in the state. “From that, I have started doing KidWind workshops to help other teachers around the state learn more about KidWind and how to do the hands-on activities,” Whisler said. “I’ve hosted about eight to ten different workshops and trained 100-125 teachers from around the state on the 6 - www.wichitafamily.com
Kidwind activities.” Since entering the state competition the school has fielded some very informed teams. “During the last several years we’ve competed in the wind tunnel -- the KidWind challenge, learning year-toyear,” Whisler said. “Three years ago we had a team that won the state KidWind challenge and had the opportunity to compete in a national challenge held in Washington D.C.”
Working towards travel Since there is no budget for this activity, funding to get the team to D.C. was difficult. “Thanks to this network of people I’d already been working with, through The Sierra Club, Seamon’s, the bank, and Clelia McCrory (a local grant writer), we were able to come up with $3,500 in ten days.”
Former KidWind and student of Whisler’s Taryn Gillespie thought the experience was very memorable. “It was an awesome feeling to go compete for something we’d spent countless hours of hard work on and come out successful,” Gillespie said. “Getting the invite then to move on to nationals was a feeling of excitement for a new opportunity and experience, and getting a reward for the hard work. It took a group effort and lots of trial and error, but we never gave up.” While speaking at the state competition about their experience through the hands on activities, future opportunities were opened up. “Ryan Freed, director of the Kansas Energy office heard our students give their presentation,” Whisler said. “He was impressed with the presentation they gave and invited them to go to Topeka to give their presentation to the Kansas Corporation Commis-
sion, comprised of three commissioners. The regulatory energy board that oversees utility companies in Kansas. They were impressed with the work the students had done and asked us if we would help with the Kansas Energy Expo at the state fair. “So for two years we were a part of this great, big energy education project. We had the Volt on display, we had the wind tunnel on display, and students helping other students coming through. It was a neat way for us to showcase what we’re doing with energy education in Sterling.”
State fair success Caleb Hendricks, 2015 graduate of the school was happy to present his work at the state fair. “Being able to work at the state fair and inform people was great because we got the chance to really get the word out to people about different alternative energy sources that we have,” he said. “The fact that we were able to incorporate a real life issue into what we are learning in the classroom rather than just reading in a textbook.”
An electrifying thought Aware of the ever-changing developments of the science world, in the Spring of 2011 Whisler posed a question to his students. “Gas prices were $3.50 and climbing at the time,” Whisler said. “I wanted to give them a math assignment. I asked them to calculate my annual expense just for buying gas to drive back and forth from work. I told them to be my financial advisor, look at the cost of electricity, and research this new vehicle, the Volt. I asked them if I’d be further ahead to buy a vehicle like this and commute on electricity instead of gas?” A group discussion soon followed in which one student suggested getting the Volt tested. “It was Brett Smith’s idea in 2011, Whisler said. “I kinda paused at that point and said, ‘If we had a Volt, what data would we collect? How would we analyze it? What would our project look like?’ “We started as a class putting together a proposal, I visited with
Mrs. McCrory and threw the idea out to her, and we, over a period of two to four weeks, kind of put together a proposal.” In April 2011 McCrory asked Whisler how far he thought a check for $500 could go if she gave that to Conklin’s as a deposit to hold the school’s name on for a Volt. “The vehicle was available on a very limited basis,” Whisler said. “There weren’t even any in Kansas at this point. None. She is the one who took that initial leap of faith.” Sponsorship, again, seemed like a problem. “Our original idea was to lease a Volt for three years, and to have a major sponsor each year at a $5,000 level,” Whisler said. “They’d get three years of advertising for the project in return. I knew there would be some work involved in finding three businesses willing to do that. Jacam blew me out of the water. They gave us $15,000 towards this project.”
Miles built up The Volt has also been recognized around the country. “It’s succeeded far beyond my dreams in terms of the opportunities it’s presented to us,” Whisler said. “The Kansas Energy Expo, we’ve had it on display in New Orleans at a National Science Teacher’s Association convention, an NSTA convention in Kansas City, and an NSTA convention with Taryn in Chicago.” Proud of all the achievements and knowledge students had gained, the school district decided to buy the Volt. “It was a community partnership,” Whisler said. “Jeff Laudermilk at First Bank jumped on board and said, ‘What if the bank bought it and leased it to the school?’ “Well there was a $7,500 tax rebate available, and while schools are tax-exempt, we don’t qualify for tax rebates. Conklin’s claimed the rebate. The bank bought The Volt at a discounted price and leased it to the school district.” Aside from being showcased at conventions, the Volt brought in one more seemingly incredible honor during the early process.
A prestigious honor “The first year we had the Volt, a Volt advisor from Detroit called me as I was leaving the classroom,” Whisler said. “She’d heard about the Volt through the dealership. She asked if we could visit. We ended up talking for an hour. She wanted to know if I’d give my permission to her so the Huffington Post could write an article about the Volt project.” Pete Turness, Communications director of General Motors had seen photos highlighting the Volt students’ work on Whisler’s Twitter page and invited Whisler to be a special guest at one of five global events celebrating GM’s accomplishment of making 500,000,000 vehicles. He invited a few special guests who had a unique story to tell. “Taryn, Brett, and I were able to attend the celebration conference where we met the CEO of General Motors,” Whisler said. “It was a neat experience for Brett to be able talk about his idea in class, and for Taryn to show everyone what we’d worked on. Afterwards, two members of their magazine team asked if I’d seen their new magazine. They told me on the back cover they were featuring a customer with a unique story. They featured the work our students had done in the classroom with the Volt. It went to over 8,000,000 people in dealerships across the United States.” Jeffrey Hartman, a member of the 2016 KidWind team that received the state award for energy education is deeply grateful for his experience in Whisler’s classroom. “I would start by just saying thank you, and then I would mostly thank Mr. Whisler for his encouragement because he kept pushing me to do my best and work hard. I really enjoy my Advanced Environmental Science class,” Hartman said. Whisler never imagined this outcome when he suggested installing a wind turbine. “When we started this project, I knew it was unique,” Whisler said. “But to think of ever gaining the attention it’s gained. I never would have thought or expected. It’s also been fun because there weren’t lesson plans. We were designing these things as we went along.” Wichita Family • February 2017 - 7
OPENS FEB. 4 Travel back in time to a frigid world where woolly mammoths, dire wolves, saber-toothed cats, massive bears and cave people roam.
NATIONAL TRAVELING EXHIBIT Included in general museum admission, free for members.
NOW OPEN! Immerse yourself in the sights, sounds, dress and food of Vietnamese culture and traditions.
NATIONAL TRAVELING EXHIBIT Included in general museum admission, free for members.
Voyage to Vietnam: Celebrating the Tet Festival was created by Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose, and is part of the Freeman Foundation Asian Culture Exhibit Series, funded by the Freeman Foundation and administered by Association of Children's Museums.
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Discover the Ice Age was produced and is toured by
Details at www.exploration.org 300 N. McLean Blvd., Wichita, Kansas 67203