The Students on the School Board should be commended for their ambition and passion about environmental sustainability with the Solar Panel Initiative and new Go Green Club.

During their first year as “honorary board members,” these Austin High School students have accomplished more as ninth- through 12th-graders than some elected officials do.

By researching the feasibility of the project and locating potential funding, these students will save the school about 1 percent in utilities with their 10 solar panels. It may not be a lot, but it is more than what the school currently has and will serve as an educational resource for years to come.

The Go Green Club, which will begin in the 2008-09 school year, will encourage students to show how much they care about their planet through means such as recycling in the AHS building.

These students, particularly recent graduate Dayna Jondal, should make their generation as well as the Austin community proud to have such promising future leaders who try to make the world a better place by doing rather than just saying.