wk5 - The school that runs on kindness and solar power

    In the heart of a city once known for pollution and power outages, there now stands a school unlike any other—Harmony High, a place powered entirely by the sun and filled with students who are just as bright. But what makes this school truly special isn’t just the solar panels that line its roofs or the wind turbines that hum gently behind the campus. It’s the spirit of the school itself: built on kindness, sustainability, diversity, and inclusion.

    The first thing you notice at Harmony High is the feeling. The moment you walk in, you’re greeted with warm smiles, not metal detectors. The hallways are wide and filled with natural light. Solar panels generate all the electricity needed for classrooms, lighting, smartboards, and even air purification systems. The school also collects rainwater and uses wind-powered fans to cool the rooms, which makes no loud air-cons needed. Everything about the design is thoughtful, sustainable, and welcoming.

    But it’s more than just an eco-friendly building. What really changes lives here is what they teach. At Harmony High, students don’t just learn math and science, they also take classes in empathy, emotional intelligence, environmental care, and global cultures. They learn how to listen to each other, how to celebrate differences, and how to take care of their communities. It’s a place where students of all backgrounds no matter rich, poor, local, refugee, neurodivergent, differently abled will learn side by side with dignity and support.

    I got the chance to “interview” a few fictional students to imagine what this kind of future feels like. Aisha, a girl who once felt left out in her old school because she wore a hijab, says, “Here, I’m never treated as ‘different’, my culture is part of our classroom.” Then there’s Jayden, who has ADHD and used to get in trouble all the time. “At Harmony, they understand me,” he says. “My teacher lets me stand and move when I need to. I don’t feel broken anymore.”

    Even lunch is part of the learning. The school has a solar-powered rooftop garden where students grow their own vegetables. Meals are shared together in a family-style setting where every student, regardless of what they bring or can afford, eats together. No one feels embarrassed. No one is hungry. Students take turns serving food to each other, building respect and teamwork.

    The school uses restorative circles instead of punishment, when conflicts arise, students sit down with a facilitator to talk through emotions and find peaceful solutions. There’s a strong emphasis on community building, so everyone feels seen, heard, and valued.

    What’s most inspiring is how Harmony High connects to the real world. Students don’t just stay inside, they go out into the community to teach others what they’ve learned, whether it’s how to build solar lights for rural homes, run kindness campaigns in public parks, or mentor younger children in inclusive play. Every student graduates not just with academic knowledge, but with a mission to make the world more fair and compassionate.

    I wish every school could be like Harmony High. In our current system, schools often rely on outdated energy sources, and students with different needs or backgrounds are misunderstood or left out. We still see bullying, discrimination, and stress caused by comparison and competition. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

    What Harmony High shows is that when we build schools on clean energy and clean hearts, we create more than just a better learning space, we create better humans. Schools like this give us a glimpse of the future we should be working towards: one where every child has the power to shine, and where learning is fueled by both sunlight and kindness.