KCP&L Energy CampCEWD Midwest Regional Meeting

April 16, 2013

The Possibility

• Summer 2010 - Center For Energy Workforce Development and the MO Energy Workforce Consortium outreach discussions

• The target is rising 8th graders to help them stay with Math and Science in high school

• Spring 2011 - Got connected to UMKC School of Computing and Engineering (SCE) who connected us to the KC STEM Alliance

• Began exploring partnerships for funding

The Planning• By the time we met with KC STEM Alliance, we had

– Internal support to fund the initial camp– Commitment to 3-day Day Camp; piloting only 1– Solid draft of the 3 day agenda

• KC STEM Alliance had experience with PLTW, organizing camps & connection to regional SchDists– Facilitated a realistic budget for the pilot camp– Reworked agenda with UMKC-SCE faculty

• KCP&L, KC STEM & UMKC - SCE are full partners – Committed to deliver quality camp @ minimum cost

• Being on campus creates vision that college isn’t a scary place & of what’s possible

Day 1• Economics of STEM

jobs• Safety demonstration

using Electric City• Electrical Theory

– Potential and Kinetic– Magnets and Poles– Circuits using Snap

Circuit Kits and the UMKC Robotics team as coaches

Day 2• Continue Electric Theory

– Conductors and Insulators– Current, Voltage,

Resistance– DC vs. AC, Induction and

Generation– Types of Generation

• Fossil and Renewables• Experiments

– Conductive paint drawings– Building dynamo – Fruit Battery– UMKC Power Lab– Began planning on a wind

generator

Wind Turbine Design and Competition

In the Physics & Electrical Labs

Day 3

• Wind Turbine Competition– Winner generated 13V

• T & D Systems Overview• Field Trips

– CT Plant and substation, Green Impact Zone Substation tour, Project Living Proof Demo house tour – energy efficiency

– KCP&L Safety Trailer Demo• Importance of Math &

Science in Career choices and salaries

Field Trips

Debrief• Every Employee that was involved talk with the

students about– Their personal journey to a career at KCP&L– The need for Math & Science in utility careers– The kind of living and job security that is available

• The “dream” is to create a Energy Camp “in a box” cookbook with curriculum and experiments for any kind of group to use – from University to B&G Clubs anywhere in the KCP&L service territory (or CEWD members).

• This year are working with Alta Vista and Frontier School of Innovation.