Late in the summer of 2006, we were contacted by one of the professors
from the University of Western Ontario. He had heard of our little
operation here and was quite interested in what we were doing here,
helping people build wind turbines. He thought that it might make a really
good project for the class of future shop teachers that he was teaching at
the university. He said that he had been looking for a project that could
involve many departments at the university. We discussed the project with
him at length and we agreed to help.
A few weeks later, about twenty five future shop students arrived here
to have a look at what we were doing. Craig walked them through the basics
of turbine building giving them a brief idea of what they would be doing.
For the next few weeks, the students came here on Saturdays, along with
our regular gang of turbine fanatics, and Craig helped them to get going
on their project. Since the media department at the university was also
involved in this project, there was a lot of filming going on while they
were here so that they could have a record of the project during every
step.
After a few weeks, they were far enough along and had a good enough
understanding of how to complete the turbine, that they finished the rest
in their shops at the university. We figured that it was just getting too
cold for them in our shop, so they decided to go somewhere where there was
heat! It was getting close to December, so that's understandable!
In February, 2007, Craig and Mike #1 went to visit the future teachers
at their workshop where they were almost finished with the turbine.
Everyone was glad to see them and were very excited about the project
being close to completion. They said that when it was finished, they were
going to place it in the hallway outside of the Dean's office so everyone
would see it.
All in all, everything went very well and everyone learned a lot. The
professor said that it turned out to be the perfect project since it
involved almost all of the shop classes, from welding to electrical,
woodworking and metal works and even the media department!
It was great to be a part of this project and hopefully, everyone who
was involved, will be spreading the word about renewable energy!
