March 13, 2019
Michigan

Hemlock students learn about renewable energy in DTE Energy sponsored play

By Chris Ehrmann | www.mlive.com

HEMLOCK, MI – A play teaching young kids the benefits of renewable energy is traveling around elementary schools in mid-Michigan. DTE Energy is sponsoring the performances.

Plus One Meetings is putting on the play that follows two actors who learn about renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

One of the plays took place at Hemlock K.C. Ling Elementary School in Hemlock on Monday, March 11. Over 300 students gathered in the gymnasium to watch the roughly 45-minute play, where characters named Alex and Kate figure out how to open a box without alerting the villain using renewable energy.

“DTE really wanted to get engaged with the community and help kids really understand the science behind it, so our challenge is how do we make it fun and accessible to kids,” said Lisa Bower, president and chief executive officer of the company.

She authored the play which helps break down topics like renewable energy using an example kids might understand. In the play, one of the characters imagines a bowl of cereal and eats from it while another character explains that no matter how much they eat from the bowl it will never run out.

“We are so lucky because we work with Plus One Meetings, they worked with our subject matter experts to take a complicated matter and break it down,” Cynthia Hecht, a DTE Energy spokesperson said. “This play is part of our outreach initiative to educate people to understand where their power comes from and where it’s generated.”

Principal of Ling Elementary Lori Gensch participated in the play for a brief moment. She said the program helps encourage students to follow careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and math, which is also part of their STEAM curriculum at the school.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/03/13/hemlock-students-learn-about-renewable-energy-in-dte-energy-sponsored-play/