(AP) — The sun was shining brightly on Claire Vlases, an eighth-grade girl who led a student campaign to raise $118,000 so that solar panels can be installed at Sacajawea Middle School in Bozeman. Principal Gordon Grissom and Facilities Director Todd Swinehart said Claire had raised the issue early enough that Sacajawea's new electives wing could be designed to be structurally strong enough to support solar panels in the future and to have the right electrical setup to connect to the power grid. Between the pennies campaign and the student talent show, which donated its earnings to the solar project, Sacajawea kids and teachers raised $8,500. For Halloween, Claire made a black solar panel costume that said Solar Makes Sense and went door-to-door asking for donations. Kids formed a Solar Makes Sense group and collected donations at every school fundraiser, from the Adult Spelling Bee to the Santa Run. Claire and the principal had met last fall with Diana Blank, first wife of Home Depot's founder and the philanthropist who started the Kendeda Fund, named for her children. By the second meeting with fund officials this spring, Claire had done everything asked of her, and brought the sixth-grade Solar Makes Sense committee, Fischer and other supporters. Once the Kendeda Fund check arrives, Swinehart said, school officials plan to seek bids from contractors.