Three years ago, Pinon Middle School science teacher Rochelle
Silvers asked her seventh-grade students if anyone would like to
do a science project for the state science fair. The only
student to raise his hand was Garrett Yazzie. Garrett, a Navajo
Indian, volunteered because no one else did, and because he was
excited about the possibility of a trip off the Indian
reservation where he lived. For his project, Garrett made a
solar-powered water heater out of aluminum cans and a car
radiator from an old Pontiac, which he had found at a junk yard.
The result was not just an experiment for the science fair but
an invention used in Garrett's home. At the time, 13-year-old
Garrett was living with his mother, two sisters and two nephews
in a trailer on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona. The
trailer, like many homes on the reservation, did not have
running water or electricity. Garrett used his heater to heat
well water for bathing and to heat his home. According to
Garrett's data, his invention can heat water