Enjoys the Idaho outdoors
BY JONATHAN KANE
Nelson Cantrell, a senior at Wood River High School, loves the outdoor activities that growing up in Idaho affords.
“I just really like to get outside and enjoy life,” he said. “That includes camping, backpacking, playing sports like basketball and Wiffle ball. One of my favorite things is when I go to my cousin’s house in Spirit Lake outside Spokane and we get to go boating and swimming and all that stuff.
“My parents introduced me to being in the outdoors. They took me along since I was a baby. My dad ran the athletic club and there would be Friday night hikes and he would take me along in his backpack until I was able to go along with him.
“I’ve been hiking and backpacking and camping since I can remember,” Cantrell said.
Cantrell said that when he was 7, his parents bought a motorhome and the family took a year-long trip back and forth across the continent.
“First, we went down the West Coast to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, and from there ferried with the motorhome to central Mexico. From there, we came up through Texas and crossed over to Alabama and Florida.
“Then we went through Virginia and saw New York City, then Vermont, New Hampshire and through Canada back to Spokane.
“The highlight was the three months we spent in Mexico, and this was long before the drug cartels really blew up,” Cantrell said. “It was such a cool culture and we would go to the beach every day and be the only ones there. We had just never been exposed to a different culture before and what came with it, like different food, beliefs and language. It was an amazing experience.”
Cantrell also enjoys sports, excelling in track and field, baseball and basketball. He is also a serious student, carrying a current 3.7 grade point average, and is a member of National Honor Society. Advanced Placement classes he’s taken include U.S. History, Micro and Macro Economics, Government and Statistics.
For his senior project, Cantrell built a solar panel out of aluminum cans.
“Basically, I made it out of 160 cans,” he said. “At the middle school, I used a drill press and cut out the tops and bottoms and then glued them together with silicone to create channels.
“I then lined them up in a wood frame and then painted them with an absorbent paint. I then put a Plexiglas sheet on top of it and hung it on the outside of the house. When the sun hits it, the air is heated and rises into the house, where it displaces the cold air.
“It works great,” Cantrell said. “I was looking to build something and my dad found the idea on the Internet. The great thing is that it doesn’t use any electricity. It took a week of work and I’m also pleased that I made it all out of recycled materials.”
