Byron Thomas and his Accomplishments
Payton Shiver
February 18, 2010
Filed under Community
Well known as the class clown and easily identified as one of the most humorous classmates one could ever encounter, junior Byron Thomas is actually more than meets the eye.
Byron has traveled to Washington, D.C, obtained ten solar panels for North Augusta High School, attended a campaign rally for in North Augusta at the River Club for Gresham Barrett, and created a popular new organization at the school, The Environmental Club. Byron was recently interviewed by North Augusta Today, who failed to give credit where credit is due. Radical Repulican Byron Thomas is out to “change the world.”
Last school year, Byron wrote letters to the company British Petroleum, better known as BP Gasoline Company, asking to support Byron’s idea of having solar panels in North Augusta High School. Unfortunately, the company turned him down. Not discouraged by their rejection, Byron traveled to Washington D.C this past summer and met with representatives from the Earth Day Network on July 2nd, 2009. Shaun Miller, the director of Earth Day Network was impressed with Byron’s efforts and worked with BP to obtain a grant for North Augusta High School to have ten free solar panels. These 200 watt solar panels will save 100,000 pounds of carbon dioxide output over the course of twenty five years. North Augusta High School will save up to $35, 000 from these solar panels, and the air around the school is projected to be 30% cleaner.
“I think it’s pretty awesome,” says junior Jennifer Tran. “All anyone ever talks about at school anymore is budget cuts. So yeah, it’ll save North Augusta a lot of money.”
Byron’s inspiration to achieve this goal came from his science fair project last year. “I thought about modernizing my science fair project… And then I started thinking, ‘Why can’t North Augusta be modernized and have solar panels one day?’”
After receiving the solar panels, Byron got an email from Gresham Barrett, who is running for governor of South Carolina. He told Byron he would love to meet him. After keeping up a steady correspondence, Byron was finally invited to Barrett’s campaign rally, where he met many important republican politicians and members of the media.
“Byron is one of the last people you would ever think of accomplishing all of this,” says junior Miracle Washington. “But he did it, and deserves the credit for it all.”
The Earth Day Network strongly suggested that Byron start a club. Sponsered by Mr. Ferrell, the Enviornmental Club has cleaned the stadium after every Friday night football game, and on Sundays after Band Competitions. Byron says he is still establishing the club, and preparing for April 22, when Earth Day Network will visit North Augusta and see its progress towards a more ‘green planet.’
Over the next year, EnvironmentalClub plans on taking over the courtyards around the school and planting more trees. They also want to take part in the “Adopt-a-Highway” Program. “But I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” says Byron. “Things might not happen and we could get blamed for false promises.”
“Environmental Club has accomplished so much already,” comments Page Barns, a junior and a member of the Club. “The solar panels and our help around the school will greatly impact the students and teachers. We are also planning on helping at Kids Earth Day.”
Byron wants to attend the University of Georgia and major in Meterology and obtain a PhD in Climatology. He says, “I wanna be the man in the weather – that crazy man in a hurricane!” As a certified Climatologist, Byron plans to study global warming patterns in an effort to reverse the patterns and hopefully “save the world.”
