Overcast skies didn’t put a damper on Saturday’s Junior Solar Sprint state finals at the Owls Head Transportation Museum. The students simply switched over to their battery packs. What else would you expect from innovative young designers and builders?
About 100 middle school students from throughout Maine competed in the 22nd annual races, which were organized by the Maine Energy Education Program. Students were given a motor and a 3-volt solar module and left to their own abilities to design and build a car.
The cars could be made from any material, but the dimensions couldn’t exceed 2 feet in length, 1 foot in width and 1 foot in height. “It combines engineering and problem solving,” said Peter Zack, director of education for MEEP. “They have to figure out how to get a car to go fast using the sun.”
The winning team – Thomas Johnson, Ben Johnson and Ian Martin, all sixth-graders at the Middle School of the Kennebunks – was the only team to be undefeated in all of its races. The Johnsons are brothers.
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