The $10,000 grant that the school received from the bag challenge would have paid for a small solar array, but the community decided it wanted a more impacting system, Adams explained to the audience of middle schools students, teachers and town officials.

The project was able raise another $40,000 from the Community Office for Resource Efficiency in Pitkin County, the Eagle County ECO-build fund, the Aspen Skiing Co. employee Environment Foundation, Holy Cross Electric and the town of Basalt.

The solar array that went online Jan. 26 contains 30 solar photovoltaic panels and covers a small area on the south side of the school. It was installed by Sol Energy and will produce 7.1 kilowatts of power.

The system comes with monitoring equipment and a curriculum that the science teachers said they were excited to try out in their classrooms.

Ryan Bradley, who teaches eighth grade science and math told his kids to look forward to checking out the equipment and learning more about how solar works.

While the panels are functional and will offer some good in-school lessons for students, the idea behind them and what they stand for philosophically is significant as well.

“Every time I come to school and see these panels, I’m excited,” Bagley said. “I think we can all have a sense of pride that our school and our community is doing something to make a difference.”

The solar panels at the middle school are just one more installation of solar and renewable energy in the community and will certainly not be the last.

“We couldn’t be prouder of this,” said Basalt town manager Bill Kane, “and we’re going to do more of this in the future.”

In fact, the town is working now on installing a state-of-the-art solar water treatment facility, he said.

“We live in a very special community, full of people who care a lot and contribute a lot,” Kane said. “And we’re on a real path here to offset a lot of our energy use.”

With that, Adams invited students to help cut the ribbon and hands shot up across the lawn. Some of the older kids jeered when Adams selected fifth graders. But they all clapped when the ribbon was severed.