- April 19, 2024
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Daniele Daddario, Katie Marques and Lynette Claude
Marilyn Welle
ODA students pose before the solar project celebration and marine science lab ribbon cutting.
Students wore sustainability superhero capes during the assembly.
Alex Berndt, Isiaih Prete and Hayne Falck applaud ODA's newest staff members during the celebration.
Facilities Director Dan Dennehy shows off his red cape after being named school superhero for his efforts in managing the solar project and the marine science lab.
Head of School David Mahler welcomes students back to Out-of-Door Academy.
Maddox Towery listens as Head of School David Mahler explains the newest additions to ODA's lower school campus.
Patrick Rauch tries on his ODA sunglasses, which were passed out before the assembly in honor of the school's recent solar energy project.
Jorja Lowe, Emi Briceno and Eve Arsenault get their first look at the touch tank in ODA's newly renovated marine science lab.
It’s only the second day of the school year for Out-of-Door Academy, but Head of School David Mahler is already starting to look at the weather a little differently.
“I started to think of the weather in terms of it’s a good solar day,” he said during ODA’s first school assembly on Aug. 17 at ODA’s Siesta Key campus.
Students, parents and donors gathered under the Kozel Family Amphitheater to celebrate the addition of 730 solar panels to ODA’s campus.
“These fans are spinning as a result of energy being produced on the roof of this building,” Mahler said.
The addition of the panels is part of a comprehensive effort to encourage students to adopt sustainable practices on the lower school campus as well as the upper school campus in Lakewood Ranch.
Students were given capes with the ODA logo and sustainability superheroes printed on them.
“We want to teach them about consumption,” Mahler said. “This is just kind of the tip of the iceberg to do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint.”
Mahler hopes to expand the solar programming to ODA’s upper school campus in the future, but said he is excited to see panel’s effect on the lower school. He said the panels, which were funded by an anonymous donor, could save the school as much as $60,000 in utility costs.
“We were looking for an opportunity to make a statement,” Mahler said.
But the panels weren’t the only addition to the campus during the summer months. ODA staff also cut the ribbon on the school’s new marine science laboratory.
The classroom, complete with multiple aquariums and a multi-tiered touch tank, was the product of a partnership with Mote Marine Laboratory.
ODA Facilities Director David Dennehy said the marine lab project was unlike many other projects he has worked on. Usually, he manages projects with overarching goals and long-term results, like the solar panels.
But this one, he said, is special, because the results are immediate. Children filed through their new laboratory, some pointing and gasping at the sea urchins and fish in the tanks.
“There is a direct benefit to the students,” Dennehy said. “You can see on day one that students are playing with it.”
