ST. JOSEPH OF CUPERTINO SCHOOL'S MATH TEACHER
RECEIVES $10,000 GRANT

Mr. Mike Lee, 8th grade homeroom teacher and 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math teacher at our school received a $10,000 grant from BP Energy to augment his math, science, and technology curriculum. St. Joseph of Cupertino became a solar-powered school in August, 2004. Mr. Lee immediately saw the teaching potential of this project - both in terms of alternative energy and in terms of teaching students monitoring, measuring, analyzing, and predicting skills. He and his students would log onto the online system for the solar panels, and analyze the amount of energy being received and being used. He learned about the "A+ For Energy" Grant Program sponsored by BP through a class he was taking, and spent his Easter vacation writing an excellent proposal, entitled: "Letting the Sun Shine: Bringing Solar Power and Math Together." In June he received word that he was one of the $10,000 winners. Mr. Lee and Mary Lyons, SJC's principal, traveled to Southern California in July for the Awards Ceremony. Mr. Lee says, "I am very excited about the potential of this grant. I think our students are really going to respond to this hands-on approach to learning how solar can help us solve global energy problems." Ms. Lyons agrees, "I am so proud of Mr. Lee. I proofread his grant proposal, and was impressed with the scope of his project. But most of all, I am excited for the children. Mr. Lee has wonderful plans to create amazing learning experiences for the students." Mr. Lee also attended a five-day training conference later in the summer, hosted by BP's partner agency, the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project. As well as attending this conference and teaching summer school math classes at SJC, he also spent his summer purchasing and installing the technology equipment that the grant was meant to fund. His classroom is now a state of the art lab and "the learning will begin!"