KIPP LA - College Prepartory School

As a Renewable School, KIPP LA College Preparatory School in Los Angeles, California is building a dedicated community of renewable energy educators, generating clean energy through their photovoltaic (PV) system, and leveraging the system's performance data as an educational tool to bring energy topics to life in their classrooms.

The project at KIPP LA represents the commitment of Major League Soccer (MLS WORKS) and Continental Tire to give back to the east Los Angeles community and the environment. In 2011, these funding partners came together with Solar 4R Schools to provide a Renewable School project to a community associated with the MLS Cup winner. To mark the victory of the 2011 MLS Cup champion, LA Galaxy, a 2.2-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) system was installed at KIPP LA in April 2012.

Educators at KIPP LA received a customized renewable energy teacher training, hands-on science kit materials to augment the school's existing curricula, and complete access to the resources available on the Solar4RSchools.org website. To optimize integration of renewable energy science and technology content, every aspect of the support provided by Solar 4R Schools was customized to fit the unique focus of the school community, including topics covered in the teacher training as well as our recommendations for activities and science kit materials to make integration of this new content as efficient as possible. This project makes renewable energy a fully tangible concept for KIPP LA students, empowering them to make a difference in energy consumption in their community.