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WEEK OF APRIL 10, 2025
VOLUME 159 | ISSUE 15
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U.S. Energy secretary to NREL employees: ‘unleash all your energies, talents’ at Golden visit
JEFFCO SYMPHONY CONTEST WINNER GIVES PERFORMANCE P2
CHURCHES TALK ABOUT THEIR CHANGES P10 POST-COVID
BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
said they’d read one or more of “The Wild Robot” books, seen the movie, or both. Josie’s dad, Patrick, said the family stops by the library weekly for books and usually participates in other events, like PAWS for Reading. The “Create Your Own Roz” event was the perfect opportunity for not only Josie and her sister to meet up with their friends, but also for their dads to hang out too, Patrick explained. Roy Katz said his 5-year-old Orion enjoys “The Wild Robot” books and library events, so the family thought it would be the perfect activity. Orion said he enjoyed building his Bristlebot and crafting his Roz-inspired statue. Cousins Adalie Gonzalez Prehn and Emmett Smith, both 5, said they enjoy doing the library’s LEGO Build and Play events, and thought this would be a fun building-type activity as well. The magnets were particularly fun to play with, Emmett said. While other Jefferson County Public Library branches have done other “The Wild Robot”inspired activities, Lewallen said this activity allowed the participants to create something in both the Bristlebots and their own Roz-inspired robot statues.
With wide-scale layoffs, budget cuts and more, the past three months haven’t been easy for federal government employees and contractors. However, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright looked to provide some encouragement April 3 as he visited the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Golden campus. In addressing NREL’s 4,000 employees — whether in Golden, at another campus or in the field — Wright told them how much he enjoyed his visit, saying, “Not all my days have been as awesome as today.” Wright, who’s from the Denver area, has a background in oil and natural gas as well as solar, geothermal and nuclear energy. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Feb. 3 and sworn in later that day. Wright told NREL employees how they’re doing critical work, saying he wants to help them however he can so that NREL and other U.S. Department of Energy employees can “unleash all of your energies and talents” and “focus on science and technology, and not on bureaucracy.” To that end, he said he signed secretarial orders to ensure work could get done faster and cheaper. As an example, Wright and NREL Director Martin Keller explained how, after Wright assumed office, Keller asked Wright to help accelerate construction of the Golden campus’ Energy Materials and Processing at Scale, or EMAPS, facility. NREL broke ground on it last year and it’s expected to be completed in 2027. As Keller and other NREL officials later explained, Wright did help accelerate the project by reducing permit processing and approval times for contracting and executing the construction work.
SEE ROBOTS, P6
SEE SECRETARY, P9
Adalie Gonzalez Prehn, 5, smiles with her completed robot statue and her new Bristlebot, which is on top of the statue, during a March 27 event at the Golden Library. Adalie and about 10 other children built their own Bristlebots and robot statues, as inspired by “The Wild Robot” book and movie series. PHOTO BY CORINNE WESTEMAN
Wild Robot-Builders Children craft their own robot statues at Golden Library event BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
MINES TRACK AND FIELD HAVE ‘GOLDEN HOUR’ AT P14 MEET
Roll aside, R2-D2 and WALL-E, because there are new robots in town. Ten local children recently assembled their own Bristlebots — tiny robots the size of toothbrush heads — at a March 27 event at the Golden Library. They then made their own robot statues out of cans, bolts, gears, magnets, tin foil, pipe cleaners, pom poms, googly eyes and more. The “Create Your Own Roz” event at the Golden Library was inspired by “The Wild Robot” book series, the first installment of which was recently adapted into an award-winning film. The young participants were encouraged to build their own versions of the titular robot, Rozzum 7134, also known as Roz. However, Kids & Families Librarian Dawn Lewallen ultimately wanted the participants “to be as creative as they want” in their concepts. Josie Garner, 8, and several other participants
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