Ameren donated 105 fuel cell kits \- totaling $150,000 \- to teachers throughout the Ameren companies' service areas in Missouri and Illinois. High school science teachers use the kits \- and a curriculum that reinforces Ameren's commitment to the environment and explains energy generation through renewable resources \- to build awareness of renewable energy sources through hands-on experiments. This is the final year for the program.
"We support our communities in many ways beyond our basic role of providing reliable gas and electric service," said Scott A. Cisel, president, Ameren Illinois Energy Delivery. "This program supported education throughout Ameren's service area \- where school systems are facing some tough financial pressures." Local fuel cell kit recipient schools include:
Clinton Community High School Clinton
University High School Normal
Dee-Mack Primary Junior High School Mackinaw
Argenta-Oreana High School Argenta
Next Generation School Champaign
Mahomet-Seymour Junior High Mahomet
Atwood-Hammond High School Atwood
Cerro Gordo High School Cerro Gordo
El Paso-Gridley High School El Paso
Besides providing fuel cell kits, Ameren's Power Up program also provided more than 200 SMART Board' interactive whiteboards \- with a total value of $600,000 \- to K-12 classrooms throughout the Ameren companies' service areas in Missouri and Illinois.
The SMART Board' interactive whiteboard is a touch-sensitive display about the size of a standard whiteboard. Hooked up to a computer and projector, it operates like a giant computer screen that students and teachers simply touch to operate. Students can also write over applications in digital ink and then save their work for future study and review.
In addition, Ameren awarded $250 grants to individual teachers for classroom equipment or supplies of their choice \- up to a total of $150,000 awarded.
Ameren, through its subsidiaries, serves 2.4 million electric customers and nearly 1 million natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.
# # #