Middleburgh high school students recently had the opportunity to go on a field trip to New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) in Rensselaer, NY. NYISO operates New York’s bulk electricity grid and is tasked with ensuring system reliability. NewsChannel 13 photojournalist Justin Shumway interviewed students and faculty about the trip.
The trip, one of many experiential learning experiences offered at MCS this year, provided students with a unique opportunity to see NYISO in action. During the NewsChannel 13 interview, AP science teacher Mollie Burgett pointed out that seeing the operations first-hand was an eye-opening experience for everyone.
“I think that there are a lot of job opportunities out there,” Burgett said. “As I was watching the people in the operating room do their thing-it’s not a career I would have thought about and not something that I would have been able to relay to students and say, ‘This is something you can do,’ because I didn’t know it existed until I saw it.”
Agriculture teacher Carmen Fagnani said she knew her students would benefit from learning more about the power grid.
“We talk about hydroelectric in my aquaculture class, so we talk about dam and dam-flow ecology,” said Fagnani. “A lot of people think that agriculture is just cows, sows and plows, but it’s not. It’s everything from the tradesmen to the people who run the New York state power grid.”
Juniors Oliver Simeon and Nick Smith were impressed by the technology they saw, especially the real-time display of the electricity grid. Smith talked about the way the system tracks the demand for power.
“I learned about how many transmission lines and substations there are and all the different voltages going to all the different places around the state,” Smith said. “Where most of the population is, is where the most transmission stations and generators are because they have to have more output for the bigger population.”
Simeon also thought that was interesting, and he was impressed by the workforce.
“There are always people there, always working on it, making sure everything is good.”
The trip gave students a way to envision new career options while also giving them a better understanding of how careers are interconnected.
“They talked to us about solar and wind energy and what percentage NYISO wants to convert to in what years,” said Smith. “It’s good to know that to plan for the future, how you want to live with the changing world.”
The trip provided many connections under the heading of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) learning, and NYISO has opened the door to students who may want to pursue an internship.
MCS students can look forward to experiential learning on more field trips this school year, including a trip to Syracuse, NY, to witness the solar eclipse on April 8.
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