Under Cook County’s Solar Schools Grant program, the Cook County Department of Environment and Sustainability awarded grant funding to 24 public schools to support the construction of small photovoltaic (PV) systems used to educate students first-hand how sunlight is converted into electricity. The County’s program provides supplemental funding to grantees of the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation’s (ICECF) K-12 Solar Schools Program, which assists with the installation of 1kW PV systems throughout Illinois institutions serving grades K-12. Each school is reimbursed a maximum of $5,000 by the County upon installation of the system. Grantees commit to incorporating solar and renewable energy into their STEM curriculum, and to host “Solarbrations” that celebrate the PV system within their school community. A few of the schools that received Solar Schools Grant awards from Cook County were Octavio Paz Elementary in Chicago, Barack Obama School of Leadership and STEM in Chicago Heights, Sherlock Elementary School in Cicero, and Proviso East High School in Maywood. For more information about the County’s Solar Schools Grant program, visit: www.cookcountyil.gov/solarschools