IVVC Staff First Day Back Tours
Launch the media gallery 1 playerThe IVVC staff members enjoyed educational tours and a luncheon on their first day back for the new 2010-2011 school year.
| On Tuesday, August 17, after a brief staff meeting, staff members boarded a bus and traveled to the first planned activity, the Lee/DeKalb Windfarm. At their site office in Shabbona, technical details of the wind turbines and career information were shared. We learned that one must be in very good physical shape to maintain the turbines, since all tools are carried up a ladder to the top of the turbine, equivalent to a 30-story climb! Wearing hardhats and safety glasses, our bus took us out into the farm field to the turbines. Standing directly in front of and looking up, the sheer size was quite impressive! |
Mrs. Fisher & Mrs. Belcher, |
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Mike Hey, owner/operator of DeKalb County Landfill, explaining landfill processes. |
The next bus stop was at the DeKalb County Landfill and Compost Facility. Our staff learned that the job of a landfill manager is technical and some chemistry is involved, as one needs to understand methane and carbon dioxide gases, and how waste decomposes under different conditions. |
| Yard waste is made into rich compost, by methods of chopping, windrowing and turning the product with large equipment. Care must be taken with recycling, as the wrong item mixed in can contaminate an entire batch of recycling, so that it ends up in the landfill. |
Compost in windrows |
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After all this learning, the staff members/students for the day were famished, so the final stop was for lunch at Rambo’s in Somonauk. Sandwiches, salads, soft drinks and iced tea were served, and enjoyed by all. Following lunch, staff members returned to IVVC to finish preparations for the students’ first day.