White River Alternative Programs teacher Chris Sadler is being recognized as one of the nation’s most innovative educators. He will be building a solar greenhouse with the $2,000 ING Unsung Heroes grant he recently received.

Sadler was one of 100 winners across the country who received an award to help fund an innovative teaching idea. Sadler’s project is titled, “Environmental Science – Waste and Energy Management/Solar Power Greenhouse Instruction Program.

Sadler’s greenhouse will benefit 395 WRAP students.

Students will research how the solar power system works and determine an affordable system within the program’s budget. Once constructed, students will monitor a kilowatt power meter to identify the system’s energy production, compare it to the kilowatts used by the greenhouse, determine the energy savings and project the amount of time it will take for the system to pay for itself.

Students will manage the greenhouse to produce crops using environmentally safe strategies. Sadler, who lives in Bonney Lake, says his students will have the opportunity to use their communication skills by holding community plant sales, where they will educate customers in the design, implementation and benefits of using their strategies to grow and raise crops as well as the benefits of using solar power.

Sadler isn’t done yet. He will now compete with other winners for one of the top three prizes, $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000.