WASHINGTON -- Three years ago a group of five students sat down to talk about ways they could make their school more environmentally friendly. Now, 22 solar panels sit atop the building.

Students at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology celebrated the unveiling of the new panels. Support of the effort raised $56,000 to complete the project.

"I hope that if anything it can share our enthusiasm for what we do with everyone else," said Varun Bansal who thought up the project.

Bansal saw the completion of three years work just days before graduation. He and the other students involved learned important lessons about not just environmental issues, but political as well, said their faculty adviser Amanda Hurowitz.

"This was something that students can do where they are doing their own political organizing," Hurowitz said. "There is also the, how do you do something like this, how do you begin to change the world?"

For students at this Alexandria, Va., high school changing the world begins at home. Next year students might focus on bringing wind turbines to the campus.