ARLINGTON — The Arlington School District could save energy thanks to science, technology, engineering, art and math courses offered to Arlington and Weston high school students this summer.

Weston science teacher and program support specialist Cindy Christoferson explained that more than 30 students from both schools took part in the eight-day STEAM course, which was good for half a credit and took them on trips to a wind and solar farm in Ellensburg, the Rocky Reach Dam in Wenatchee and Outback Power in Arlington.

Many students then doubled up on their energy conservation project proposals, yielding nearly 20 projects between them.

While Sierra Baker weighed the benefits of installing geothermal HVAC systems in the schools, Ethan Navarre-Cantrell looked at the feasibility of the district using solar buses. Bryan Veary and Myranda Gregory proposed placing micro-hydro turbines in the gutter system, to capture rainwater and generate electricity, but Paige Quander’s proposal for hydro turbines in the lift stations received top honors from the teachers.

“She wanted to generate power utilizing our waste water,” Christoferson said. “Some of these proposals would be very costly to put into practice, at least at first, but all of them afforded opportunities for students to research and design their own solutions to problems.”

Christoferson hopes to offer the STEAM course during the school year at Weston, as well as next summer.

“The kids absolutely loved it,” Christoferson said. “They said, ‘Oh, I wish school was like this all the time.’ Even our seniors, who are graduating this school year, asked if they could come back next summer. Some of them have even been turned onto career fields that they hadn’t considered. This made an impact on a lot of kids.”