BY BRANDY TEMPLETON

Harmony Elementary School’s Robotics Team was excited to speak to a Duke University professor on Wednesday.

Eight fourth- and fifth-graders, along with the STEM and Agriculture teacher April Smith, asked Marc Deshusseswhen, Ph.D., questions about biogas.

The question-and-answer session via Zoom helped the eager students better understand concepts they’ve been working on since the beginning of the school year.

The group has learned about anaerobic digestion, and has been working on ways to recycle waste and turn it into biogas (methane and carbon dioxide).

“They’re participating in a countywide completion in late April,” Smith shared. “We came up with an idea to use chicken scraps and other cafeteria waste to fuel school buses.”

The students believe that biogas will eventually replace diesel and be better for the environment. They made a project board and poster to demonstrate their ideas.

One student asked Professor Deshusseswhen his thoughts on the usage of biogas to save the earth.

“I hope they will for this generation,” he said. “They can give it a second life, a third life, or a fourth life, all by recycling and deconstructing waste.”