Category: News

Partner With Us! Engineering Brightness Guatemala 18

It is 8 p.m. in the mountain village of San Miguel, Guatemala. Voices and laughter can be heard echoing through the darkness. A compact, student-designed, solar powered lantern creates a pool of light in a small courtyard where children are gathered for play. When asked about the light, Maria, a young mother said, “My home is a place the neighborhood children come to play after dark because it is safe in the light.” 1 million people in Guatemala don’t have electricity according to the International Energy Agency.  Imagine if you could help students in Guatemala provide solar powered lights that help their neighbors like Maria!

ENGINEERING BRIGHTNESS GUATEMALA 18 initiative empowers students in Guatemala to design and produce lights for those in their communities without safe, reliable light after dark. Engineering Brightness was founded by Tracey Winey, Ian Fogarty and John Howe, all public school teachers committed to helping students connect their learning with action that makes the world better.

This short term project, aims to raise money for tools (soldering stations, wire tools, safety equipment) and parts for 100 lights which will be left with teams of students at two schools in the western highlands of Guatemala. Two-day workshops led by Engineering Brightness will assist the schools in kick starting their light-building teams.

Secondary students in Guatemala will use these sets of tools to design and build lights for those in their communities who depend on candles, lanterns or cooking fires for light after dark. Engineering Brightness is partnering with these schools providing supplies, designs and ongoing partnerships.

We believe that students worldwide in partnership with their communities can have a real and lasting influence on the problem of light poverty. We take it for granted that when we turn on a switch, there will be light for us to read, visit, drive and work by. This is not the case for 17% of the world’s population.

You can empower students in Guatemala to impact light poverty by partnering with us! Engineering Brightness is all-volunteer.  Tax-deductible donations of any amount can be made through GuateStar, a U.S. 501c3 registered in Colorado. Our goal is for $2200 for tools and supplies and a stretch goal of an additional $2800 for two 3D printers for the schools. Designate your tax-deductible contribution “ENGINEERING BRIGHTNESS GUATEMALA 18”

 

We are grateful for our partnership with GuateStar and Top of the Lake Coffee on this project.

 

To help get the word out, please share this link with your social media connections!

Severance Middle School Making South Africa a Brighter Place

In the fall of 2016 Severance Middle School started on a journey to make the world a brighter place by starting a new learning opportunity with an Engineering Brightness class.  After many questions and learning experiences filled with trial and error, our students have prototyped numerous 3D lanterns, learned to solder, and have been connected with a school in South Africa, who will be the recipients of the first completed lanterns.  Our Engineering Brightness program has grown from the initial 12 students, to about 20 current members.  There has been collaboration not only within our walls, but we are grateful for the knowledge and experience Preston Middle School has shared with our students, through a community build day, in a Skype visit, and through a collaborative question and answer live document.  In the coming months, Severance Middle School will be hosting a build day, with the goal of spreading community awareness about the world wide problem of not having safe and reliable light after dark.

Severance Middle School’s Engineering Brightness program has been able to grow and expand so quickly this year due to amazing grants funded by OtterCares and the Littler Youth Fund, out of the Community Foundation of Greeley and Weld County.  Between the two community foundations, SMS’s Engineering Brightness program was the recipient of nearly $10,000.  Without the generous grants and belief in the school and students, the Engineering Brightness program would not have made near as much progress in its first year.  We are so thankful for the philanthropic opportunity our students are able to participate in made possible by OtterCares and the Littler Youth Fund.

Engineering Brightness Touches Down in Kenya

Florence and the house she is having built.

Engineering Brightness has now touched down in Kenya and has rekindled it’s impact in Uganda in a new way! Mrs. Eberhard, a third grade teacher from RCS in Loveland, who got to know Ms. Winey and the awesome middle schoolers at Preston last April, took four lanterns with her on her trip in December to Uganda and Kenya! While in Uganda she spent a lot of time with the house mom of the kids who EB had previously supplied with several lanterns. In the last couple months, the kids living with her have returned to the homes of their extended families leaving her in a new stage of life with a new vision. She is now excited to focus her efforts on educating young moms with practical life and parenting skills while also empowering and equipping them to use their skills to support their families! This new endeavor will take place in the home she is almost finished building. Her new home does not have electricity or running water, so she was incredibly grateful to receive a lantern for her and her two daughters to use on a daily basis, along with allowing her to meet with the women she wants to impact after the sun has gone down! She also thought the solar powered charging panel was “the best Christmas present ever”, as it allowed her to charge her phone while driving or wherever she is, especially because she often goes days without visiting a place that has electricity.

Joe with two of the lanterns.

While in Kenya, Mrs. Eberhard was connected with an amazingly compassionate, energetic, and motivated young man by the name of Joe. Joe has a heart for ANYONE that needs encouragement, help, or just a friend. Joe went through university there in Kenya and is now a banker. He knows many more students who are still in the process of getting their degrees. He was excited to take three of the lanterns back to his community where he will pass them out to his friends in need of a reliable light source to help them continue their studies even after dark. He will send updates and pictures when the lanterns have found their homes!

 

 

 

 

 

Engineering Brightness Visits Guatemala

2017 started with a new cultural friendship between Preston Middle School and the village of San Miguel, Guatemala. We were able to spend 8 days in Guatemala learning about their culture, needs and celebrations. This past fall, with the help of students at Preston, Poudre High School, Resurrection Christian Elementary School, and Severance Middle School, we built six lanterns. All six lanterns were delivered to homes throughout the village. Each home had at least three children in each home. They quickly learned how to charge the lantern either via solar or hand cranked chargers. They each committed to join our efforts to fight light poverty. In six months they will tell us about the lanterns as well as make recommendations for improvements. We appreciated their kindness, intelligence and friendship. There are over 500 other homes in the village. We hope to continue our partnership and provide more lanterns soon. continue our partnership and provide more lanterns soon.

Engineering Brightness

Engineering Brightness is a group of students and teachers committed to making the world brighter.  Through global collaboration with New Brunswick, The Dominican Republic, and Uganda, Engineering Brightness participants are engineering 3D printed, sustainable lanterns and distributing them to people without reliable electricity worldwide! Learn more about how Preston Middle School is helping to make the world a better place!

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Partnering with Honduras

Partnering with Honduras!

familywlightThe summer of 2015 presented a great opportunity to learn about Honduras culture and people.  Part of the world’s 1.3 billion people effected by limited electricity reside in Honduras.   Preston’s math teacher, Ryan Martine, is a regular visitor to Honduras, he and his family have served many summers alongside the Honduran people.   After learning that the Honduran people often have prolonged periods without electricity or simply cannot afford to use the available electricity, we found a home for our next five prepared lanterns!   Preston students packaged five lanterns, surrounded with good wishes and a few books and handed the box to Ryan.  Ryan spent time in Honduras and was able to distribute the lanterns to different families.  Ryan returned to the United States with pictures and heart filled stories.  Preston students were moved that their lanterns had made a difference and desired further communication.  They have wrote letters in both Spanish and English and a new box will be sent!  We look forward to overcoming language and time zone barriers to further our relationship and to improve the lanterns based on their experiences while authentically merging philanthropy and engineering!

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No Light, No Power, No Kidding

“What did you do when the sun went down? If you’re reading this, chances are you switched on a light. But for the 1.3 billion people around the world who lack access to electricity, darkness is a reality. There is no electric light for children to do their homework by, no power to run refrigerators that keep perishables or needed medicine cold, no power for cooking stoves or microwaves. What light they have mostly comes from the same sources that humans have relied on forever–firewood, charcoal or dung–and the resulting smoke turns into indoor pollution that contributes to more than 3.5 million deaths a year.” Bryan Walsh TIME Sept 5, 2013