W5: The School That Runs on Kindness and Solar Power

 "The School That Runs on Kindness and Solar Power"

Energy the comes from natural, continuously replenishing source over a comparatively short period of time is known as "renewable energy". Because renewable resources are obtained from geographical processes such as solar energy, wind, water, sustainable biomass, wave motion, tides and geothermic, any discussions of renewable energy is ultimately reduced to a discussion of renewable resources (Coburn & Farhar, 2004).

A school based in Greece, goes by "the Helios Academy" which is named after of a Greek god named "Helios"; the god of the sun. The reason why it is named after him is because the entire school is run on solar power or energy from the sun. The roof of the school is covered in solar panels that is so advance that even during night time or even during any crisis, the energy can last the school for a long time to survive. Other than that, the solar energy is a renewable energy as it is renewable and does not release any waste as it is the best option to be used. Therefore, it covered one of the SGDs, which is affordable and clean energy (SDG 7). Other than solar panel provide energy to the school, there is also where the solar panel provide energy to create a giant solar power force shield that can make students feel energetic, positive and protected at the same time. It technically gets rids of any negative aura from anybody within the school grounds. According to Sin & Lyubomirsky (2009), interventions in positive phycology have demonstrated promise as successful strategies for improving well-being. According to White and Murray, both mentioned that positivity does enhance and improve student well-being. Therefore, from the researches perspectives, positivity does bring people to live and can improve study sessions. It also target teachers to be more positive in teaching same goes to everybody in school. When everybody is positive, the whole school will be in a perfect learning atmosphere.  

As having positivity aura formed by the force field may be enough for the students but they are also taught to have compassion, diversity and inclusion. Since the school is named after Helios, some of the values from Helios are being taught to the students, such as truth and honesty, illumination and knowledge, responsibility and duty, balance and harmony and lastly, power with purpose. With all the teachings, this is how everybody in school is at peace and balance. There were even some interview with some students and one boy named Alli said, "Where I was educated from previously was very unpleasant as everybody was not in the mood to study as there was not a single positivity in the air, but when I heard about this school, I was curious and enrolled to here and right now I am enjoying my studies here as everyone is very open minded, kind, and most importantly, positive. One girl called Waguri said, "I was once a person who keep my feelings and thought to myself but as I enrolled here, I have changed tremendously as this school made me feel more open and whenever I have thoughts that troubles me, my friends and teachers will be listening to what I said positively. It made me feel more relaxed and other than that, I feel more responsible as the teachers and the school staff  treated everyone in the school as an adult as they believed this help to nurture all of us for the future when we enter the real world.

Reference List:

Coburn, T. C., & Farhar, B. C. (2004). Public reaction to renewable energy sources and systems. In Elsevier eBooks (pp. 207–222). https://doi.org/10.1016/b0-12-176480-x/00462-9

White, M. A., & Murray, A. S. (Eds.) (2015). Evidence-Based Approaches in Positive Education. 

Dordrecht: Springer