ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT—Adam Raudonis, a Westlake High School senior, stands by solar panels that were paid for by the efforts of students. Last year, Adam launched an organization, Students for Solar Schools, which sparked national interest. The solar panels save electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. After more than a year of hard work and dedication, Adam Raudonis has made his dream— the installation of solar panels at Westlake High School—a reality.

One of the world’s largest student funded solar arrays, made up of 28 solar panels and totalling 6.3 kilowatts, was installed at the high school and presented at an opening ceremony Monday afternoon. The panels are expected to provide power to at least five classrooms and will save the Conejo Valley Unified School District more than $500,000 in electricity costs. Use of solar power will also reduce the creation of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

About two years ago, Raudonis was chosen to be part of the California Climate Champions Program sponsored by the British Council, a nonprofit organization in the United Kingdom focused on combating climate change.

“This was initially a project under them,” Raudonis said. “They’ll occasionally help me out with certain things and give me advice with how to move forward.”

As a first step, Raudonis created a club called Students for Solar Schools at the high school last year. The club raised almost $6,000 for the project, all of which went toward the panels, Raudonis said.

The panels were installed free of charge by Advanced Solar Electric Inc. in Newbury Park, and Solar World gave the school more than a dozen extra panels.

The club’s teacher adviser, Doug Freed, said he was pleased the students were able to install the panels on campus.

“The strength of what Students for Solar Schools stands for is their ability to save money for schools while promoting sustainable energy solutions in a manner that is very visible and easily replicated by other groups in other areas.”

The project at Westlake High School has become a model for other schools around the world; so far, 13 other schools have begun solar panel initiatives.

Raudonis will graduate from high school as a valedictorian this month and will attend Stanford University in the fall as an environmental science major.

“I’m really mainly interested in alternative energy, and that’s the kind of career I’m going to pursue,” Raudonis said.