Norma Williamson holds two teaching degrees, the first one for multiple subjects (elementary school), the second credential for high school, Spanish, which she teaches at La Mirada High School, part of the Norwalk La Mirada Unified School District. She has a Master’s Degree in Education. From 2004 to 2006, she wrote $70,000 of BP, “A+ for Energy”, environmental grants and in 2009 co-authored the California Department of Education, Green Academy grant. These grant monies are used to establish a California Partnership Academy, “Reach for the Sun” Solar Energy Academy at La Mirada High School, which she coordinates. In 2010, she wrote another grant proposal, the “Green Jobs Prep School Project” which was awarded $20,000 by California Teachers Association, IFT (Institute for Teaching).
She was the Norwalk La Mirada Unified School District Teacher of the Year in 1991 and recently (December 10, 2009) was awarded the Green Leadership Teacher Award from Green Technology, a non-profit organization based in Pasadena, California. Norma was the recipient of the LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) award from the Norwalk chapter in October, 2009.
Norma and her husband, Alan, have converted their 40-year-old tract home in the city of Cerritos into a net zero energy home, one that produces more energy than it consumes. Their green technology home includes 13 energy efficient features (HVAC, eco-friendly insulation, dual pane thermal windows, etc.) a solar hot water system and a 6 kW photovoltaic array. They haven’t paid for electricity in 9 years and haven’t bought gasoline in 9 years, since they own and drive an all electric Toyota RAV 4 EV, which they power in their garage from the sunshine that falls on their solar rooftop.
Her husband has been a solar installation supervisor for close to 10 years and works for GRID Alternatives, a state-funded organization that installs solar electric systems for low-income housing. They have presented their solar home energy renovations at several community forums, including the Sierra Club, a Housing Summit convened by Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, Whittier Transitions Initiative, Whittier Peace and Justice and at the GLEE (Green Living and Energy Efficiency) Conference in Key West, Florida. They are featured in the PBS/NOVA documentary “Saved by the Sun.” A clip from the documentary can be found on the NOVA website:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/solar/house.html
Their solar home was also the cover story of Solar Today magazine, Nov/Dec. 2006 edition: http://ases.org/index.php?option=com_simplelists&view=simplelist&layout=basic&category_id=27&Itemid=23