Engineering students at Cosumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove are working to save lives.
The students are producing solar suitcases that will help power medical clinics in impoverished villages around the world.
The students have completed two of the suitcases, with one bound for the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico at the end of this week. A study done last summer suggested the lifetime risk of dying during childbirth in this reclusive community is one in 20, said Dr. Laura Stachel, whose charity – Women's Emergency Communication and Reliable Energy – launched the solar suitcase program.
"I think it will save a lot of lives," said Ramreet Virk, a sophomore in teacher Tim McDougal's engineering class. "It's pretty shocking how much it can help."
Monday, Virk and five other sophomores and juniors screwed the final wires into charge controls, breaker boxes, fuse boxes and batteries to finish the panels that will be fitted into heavy-duty metal suitcases before shipment.
Each suitcase will be plugged into a large solar cell that will offer immediate power and charge a 12-volt battery that can offer power after dark. The suitcases include charging stations for police radios and electrical outlets for lights or medical equipment.
It took about a week to diagram the panels and a week to build each panel, said Patrick Gallardo, a junior.
The panels cost about $450 each, but teacher McDougal wasn't daunted by the expense. "The value is in saving lives," he said.
A school club – the We Care Solar Club – has formed, headed by his daughter, Jordan, and fellow junior Ahmad Farzan. Its sole purpose is to raise the money needed to purchase materials for the suitcases. Club members raised $280 at the Elk Grove Harvest Festival in October and have other fundraisers on the horizon.
"I thought it would be great that kids like us can save the lives of people across the world," Jordan McDougal said.
Stachel, the doctor, provided many of the additional materials needed to build the suitcases. She and her husband, Hal Aronson, started the women's organization last year after Stachel made several trips to Nigeria to do research. She saw firsthand the conditions suffered by mothers giving birth in clinics with unreliable electricity.
"I watched a C-section where the lights went out and it had to been done with flashlights," Stachel said.
McDougal heard Stachel speak about her organization at a "Solar Schoolhouse" program taught by her husband and decided building solar suitcases would be the perfect project for his students. They could help others and learn the basics of engineering, he said.
Stachel said a group of students in Colorado also is planning to join the project.
"I think one of the most beautiful parts of being part of this organization is seeing people reaching out and wanting to make a difference," she said.
McDougal would like to see the program in every high school in the Elk Grove Unified School District. "I want every engineering class to take on this project," he said.
Call The Bee's Diana Lambert, (916) 321-1090.
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