Modern Marvels

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. —  For these young engineers, thinking outside the box is mandatory. These cars do not come in a model kit box. There are no directions.

Students start from scratch, and they must come up with a game plan to construct their own unique solar-powered cars, which are also built for speed. Creativity is definitely a perquisite — along with patience and dedication.

Watching these students learning how to think on their feet and make things work when all goes wrong is astounding.

Even though money is tight, gas remains criminally high, and time is always at a premium, a sour economy didn't stop this family from traveling four hours to proudly watch our son, Anthony, compete in the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association's Junior Solar Sprint Competition at the High School of Commerce on a cloudy Sunday.

 

It was nearly a 500-mile round trip after leaving Auburn, Maine, but watching Auburn Middle School's two three- and four-man teams compete in this grueling, seven-hour event was worth the price of filling my gas tank twice as AMS's finest competed against their exceptional peers from all over the Northeast.

 

The designs were creative and eye-opening, and you could tell students put a lot of hard work into perfecting their solar-powered cars. Besides being judged on technical merit, innovation, craftsmanship, artistic merit, best reuse of material, best compartment, team spirit and sportsmanship, these cars were also engineered for speed.

 

Building sun-powered cars requires using a variety of lightweight materials, a soda can and a solar panel, to get the cars to run on a track. These teams gave up two afternoons a week during the school year to make their creations come to fruition.

 

The solar-power car teams from Auburn Middle School began their journeys to Springfield, Mass., from Owls Head, Maine, where two teams qualified to compete in the Northeast competition. AMS students went head to head against other Maine schools at the Owls Head Transportation Museum.

But every solar-powered team needs a dedicated teacher who has the ability to inspire his teams to create a sun-driven model car out of limited materials.

Jim Rowe is that kind of teacher who knows how to keep his students motivated. He has that special gift and infinite patience to point them in the right direction.

Rowe has been coaching aspiring engineers for over a decade, and it never gets old for this talented teacher. His students thrive under his direction. Under his tutelage last year, the Sun Ship, which was designed by my son and Damian Yoder, won for Artistic Merit at the Northeast competition and was the fastest car at Owls Head.

Last Sunday in Springfield, the AMS teams finished in the top 25 percent in speed even though Auburn Middle School did not receive an award, But kudos to the team of Anthony Blasi, Damien Yoder, and Cole Taylor for their "When Pigs Fly" creation, and to the team of Ben Knoblach, Erza Thomas, Jarod Cloutier and Harley Lombard for their car - "Cool Running."

"First I want to congratulate and thank you all for a successful year," said Rowe in an e-mail to his students and parents. "Although the teams did not win awards in Springfield, they did very well, from my experiences, finishing in the top 25 out of 108 for speed and doing very well in artistic merit and craftsmanship.

  "I was very pleased and proud to have so many parents in attendance. The most I have ever had the honor of participating with. It has been an honor to work with your children.  It truly has."

All six students found common ground to work together and make this competition a success as well as build confidence and pride in themselves. And, of course, Jim Rowe's input obviously had a lot to do AMS' strong showing in the competition.

For more information about solar powered cars competitions, check out www.nesea.org and www.meepnews.org.