Charlotte author releases “Alien Dude!” for reluctant readers
Myers Park tennis team dominates
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page 3 Serving The Arboretum, Ballantyne, Blakeney and SouthPark communities
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Volume 13, Number 41 • Oct. 10 to 16, 2014
A fluid idea UNCC grads create project to bring fresh water to areas in need by Courtney Schultz courtney@thecharlotteweekly.com
time on the playground (without any visible shade),” Angela Studnek, president of the Olde Providence Elementary School Foundation, said. “We wanted to be able to not only protect the kids, but the teachers that come outside every day to supervise our children.” The Olde Providence Elementary School Foundation works with the school’s Parent-Teacher Association and
While over 14 percent of individuals under 25 years old – many college graduates – are desperately searching for jobs, two University of North Carolina at Charlotte graduates took employment upon themselves and are aiming to help people in remote areas of the world. Christopher Matthews and Justin Sonnet, who both graduated in May with degrees in engineering, created the SAROS (Swell Actuated Reverse Osmosis System) Desalination Project, which uses wave energy to filter saltwater through reverse osmosis. The project began as an idea for the duo’s undergraduate senior project. While other groups created small-scale models of their projects and tried to solve “minimal” problems, Matthews and Sonnet, along with five other students, decided to build a large, functional product. “A lot of places are using wave energy to make electricity, and then a lot of places are using electricity to desalinate water, so we figured we’d skip a step,” Matthews said. Before the project, the group didn’t know what reverse osmosis – the heart of SAROS – was, but through extensive research and effort were able to create the floating A-frame, which is the key component of their system. Here’s how it works: The system turns waves into water through this process when in the ocean, and the waves swing a large weighted pendulum that drives the saltwater into pumps at the top of the structure. Next, the seawater goes into the system
(see Shade on page 17)
(see Fluid idea on page 16)
Olde Providence Elementary School thanked South Charlotte Dermatology for helping the school earn a $8,000 grant from the American Academy of Dermatology Courtney Schultz/SCW photo
Hanging in the Olde Providence Elementary purchases sun shades for sun safety by Courtney Schultz courtney@thecharlotteweekly.com
Faculty and students at Olde Providence Elementary School have a new way to take a break from the Carolina sun.
shade
The Olde Providence Elementary School Foundation earned the school a $8,000 grant from the American Academy of Dermatology to build new sun shades for the campus. The sun shades were placed around the playgrounds for teachers and students to gather under to diminish the direct effects of the sun and potentially prevent skin cancer. “We’re trying to give kids some kind of shade out here. They spend a lot of
INDEX: News Briefs, 6; Crime Blotter, 7; Scores, 8; Education, 11; Faith Notes, 20; Calendar, 23; Sports, 24; Classifieds, 31