Today’s Renewable Energy Roundtable at UC Riverside’s Palm Desert campus started out with a presentation on some of the programs underway at area high schools to get kids interested in and prepared for careers in green energy and technology.

Arthur Kimball, who has started a green academy at Desert Mirage High School in Thermal, reported on the impact of the recent KidWind competition — in which area high school teams competed in designing and building model wind turbines. A Desert Mirage team placed second, making them eligible to go to Washington, D.C. for a national competition, April 27-29.

The winning students have since gone to Saul Martinez Elementary School in Mecca to teach a group of 5th graders about wind power and turbine building, but Kimball said, the word quickly spread around school and soon, everyone was trying to crowd into the cafeteria where the wind presentation was taking place.

The only solution was to ask the Desert Mirage students back for a schoolwide presentation.

Kimball sees the upcoming trip to D.C. as a chance for his kids to get an even better idea of the career and education opportunities available to them in green tech. He did a little ad hoc fundraising at the roundtable because, he said, while his program is state funded, none of the money can be used for out-of-state trips. 

After announcing he was short $2,500 to for the trip, a basket was quickly passed — knocking close to $500 off the shortfall.

Anyone who wants to chip in can call Arthur Kimball at 909-633-5211.