Munger Hill Elementary School fifth-grade students Maggie Prystowski, left, and Chandler Pedolzky use a handheld device to communicate during a question and answer session as part of a Westfield Gas & Electric safety program Friday. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – Teaching young people about electrical safety has long been a priority for the Westfield Gas and Electric (WGE). In fact, the municipal utility has been educating Westfield’s fifth-graders on safety for more than three decades.
“We have been doing this for 36 years,” said Utility Supervisor Thomas Broderick. “Every year we add something new.”
This year, the WGE added two elements to the program, which took place at Munger Hill Elementary School Friday. One new addition is a technological component to the presentation that allows students to use devices to show what they learned in real time.
Students are posed questions about the presentation and given multiple-choice answers, then using the device select their answer, which is displayed.
“It’s fun for them,” said Broderick. “It makes it more interesting and interactive.”
If there are enough devices available, teachers can also log their answers. Some schools already use the devices, which interact with Smartboards.
“It’s a technology a lot of kids have used,” Broderick said.
A second addition to the presentation is a bit more theatrical. Supervisor Pat Levesque showed of his acting chops portraying “Farmer Pat” and “Professor PhD,” both of whom use poor judgment around electrical wires and pay the price.
“The kids really enjoyed that part of the program,” Broderick said.
Another popular part of the presentation was the pickle frying experiment. Broderick said to demonstrate the effects of an electrical shock on a person, they use a pickle.
“Human bodies are about 75-percent water, and pickles are about 80-percent water,” he said. “We hook up a pickle to electricity to show what can happen to a person who is not being safe around electricity.”
The pickled smoked and burned when electrified.
A natural gas lesson is also included in the program, helping kids identify the smell of natural gas and teaching them how to respond if they ever smell it. Students are also taught about Dig Safe and told to call 811 before digging in their yards.
“The best part of the program is we are not only educating these children, but they then take that information home to their parents,” said Broderick.
The WGE offers the safety program to every fifth grade in the city, including St. Mary’s.
