Students in USC Marshall’s Hayes Barnard Sustainability Fellowship (HBSF) are taking sustainability from the classroom to the field. Accompanied by Chris Bresnahan, fellowship director and associate professor of clinical management and organization, six USC students traveled to Tsavo West, Kenya, to install solar panels and build a microgrid that provided electricity to a local secondary school. The Trojan fellows also met with local entrepreneurs, and even toured a water desalination plant.

For Bresnahan and the group, the adventure took a broad concept — sustainability — and turned it into tangible impact on people’s lives.

“I think we see that solar is the future — 8% growth in American solar, EVs at 9% — but statistics are drastically different than seeing the pragmatic effect of the electrification of the community,” Bresnahan said.

Founded in 2024 and housed at USC Marshall School of Business, HBSF is a two-year student program that teaches participants how to apply sustainable practices within major organizations. Through specialized curriculum and industry connections, students from across USC disciplines learn to create clean energy policies on large and small scales.

“The mission of HBSF is to get students to put sustainability as a tool in their toolbox so that when they get an opportunity to make a change, they will,” Bresnahan explained.

The HBSF director says the Kenya trip is an extension of that mission, demonstrating to fellows the impact of grassroots action. Over four days, the group installed an energy microgrid to provide light, air conditioning, and internet to the local school, while also delivering new laptops to local students. The Trojans also visited a water desalination plant that provides the village with clean, purified water.

Bresnahan expected the students to be inspired. What the associate professor didn’t expect, however, was the fellows’ genuine enthusiasm for the work. Each morning, business, architecture, and foreign policy majors eagerly poured concrete and carried equipment back and forth.

For the associate professor, it was a testament to the fellows’ commitment to the work.

“I’m so proud of every one of them,” Bresnahan said. “They put their heart into it. They did not hold back in any way, shape, or form. They were the representative of the Trojan community. It was amazing.”

Calvin Man, an MS Finance (MSF) student and business administration major as well as the president of the Marshall Energy Business Club, believes the labor gave him a new perspective on sustainable infrastructure.

“We take for granted that when we turn on a light, then it automatically comes on. That’s not the case in 80% of the world,” Man said. “Being on the ground — digging the holes where the transmission lines for the panels and then pouring the cement out — is totally different.”

Man described how the village embraced them, welcoming the tiny cohort with food and dance. The Trojans spent much of their time connecting with Tsavo West students, many of whom were just a few years younger than the visiting HBSFers. Though visitors, they were welcomed into local homes and, at one point, a soccer match even broke out between the two camps.