Grand Palladium exposes students, teachers to practical STEM tech
Published:Wednesday | October 22, 2025 | 12:07 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERn BUREAU:
Teachers and students from five high schools and one teacher’s college got a chance to see the concept of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) being used practically during a recent tour of Grand Palladium Hotel in Hanover, which is embracing science and technology for environmental benefits.
This year’s tour, which took place on International Energy Saving Day, celebrated on October 17, marked the third consecutive year that such a tour was taking place. The students and teachers who took part in the 2025 tour were chosen from Mt Alvernia High School, Cornwall College, New Forest High School, Rusea’s High, Manning’s School, and Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College.
The teachers and students got the opportunity to explore sections of the 1,000-room property and ask questions regarding the renewable energy systems at the property, including its Tri-Generation Power Plant, Reverse Osmosis System, the more than 6,000 solar panels, the electric vehicles, eco-friendly carts and bikes, and its smart room robots that control temperature and lighting in the rooms.
The tour gave an insight into how technology and sustainability can work hand in hand to reduce carbon footprint, which is being successfully done at the Palladium property.
Mitzy Smart, the social responsibility manager at the hotel, told The Gleaner that the students who fall in the grade-10 to grade-13 category, and the teachers who are engaged in practice teaching or are being trained in the STEM subjects, were given preference in the selection of who would be accommodated on the tour.
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY PRACTICE
“As a socially responsible citizen in Hanover, we ensure that we do not just keep these technological innovations to ourselves as we realise that energy saving and renewable energy is the way forward,” said Smart. “While other persons are just catching on to the solar systems, we have over 6,300 solar panels in operation, and so we are now looking at the next generation, how can these young people help to sustain planet Earth?”
Smart also expressed the view that one way in which the technology can be accepted, adopted, and utilised is through education, which is why the Grand Palladium Hotel and Resort tries its best to generate the interest and show the available technology to the students every year.
According to her, in the three years since the annual tour started, schools have been making requests from early in the year for their STEM students to get the experience of the tour.
“We have been getting very good feedback from both teachers and students each year as they say that what they experience on the tour is in line with what they have been teaching and studying at school,” said Smart.
“They (the students) say this gives them a more practical and hands-on experience, to which they are able to relate, as when they hear it in class, they can make reference to their Grand Palladium hotel tour experience.”