BATH

A cloudy day didn’t stop Bath Middle School students from racing their solar-powered cars on Wednesday morning at the local tennis courts to celebrate their hard work and to determine which students will advance to the Maine Junior Solar Sprint competition next month.

According to Monica Wright, the eighth grade science teacher at BMS, students have been working on building and designing solar-powered cars as a part of the “I’ve Got the Power” unit, which goes hand in hand with the expeditionary learning curriculum at BMS.

The unit is focused on sustainable energy and helps eighth grade students learn more about “energy resources, reducing our energy resources, being aware of energy resources and how to be sustainable in the long run,” said Wright.

Student Katie Moore said the project took place over a course of three weeks.

“Our whole project was to get a car to work on solar power and we started getting our basic gear and mechanics down,” Moore said. “We were also assigned motors and battery packs to make sure (the cars) worked without solar power. And once we got our solar panels, we got to go outside and test it.”

Students worked in teams of two or three, and were allowed to use time in their science and math classes to put the project together.

“We’ve had a 100 percent engagement from students, our science, math, ed tech and special ed departments, and it’s just been awesome,” Wright said.

In preparation for the race, students also put together a profile of their team, which was displayed at the event.

“So often we tell kids they’re athletes, or musicians or artists, but we don’t say you could actually be an engineer too,” said Wright. “We really wanted students to picture themselves as real engineers who build things that are going to work.”

Wednesday’s event also served as the qualifier race for the Maine Junior Solar Sprint, a statewide solar car competition that involves middle school students designing and racing vehicles powered by solar energy.

Qualified students will compete at the state championships at the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Rockland, an event that draws about 60 teams from all over the state.

According to Wright, Bath Middle School students have not participated in the sprint for six years, though the school produced competitive teams in the past, and some have even gone on to compete at the regional championships in Springfield, Massachusetts.

This year, Wright said, “we decided to put in the effort to make this happen no matter what.”

Among the crowd of eighth grade students and teachers, Peter Zack of the Maine Energy Education Program, was also present on Wednesday to help set up the event. Zack currently travels all over the state to set up qualifiers for the Junior Solar Sprint.

Before the start of the race, Zack congratulated the students for their hard work. “You are all engineers,” he said.

At the event, Zack said cars would be judged based on craftsmanship, as well as speed.

“We try to honor a number of different criteria. Today, they’re mostly based on speed,” he said.

Each car was also required to carry an empty 12-ounce soda can during the race and travel at least 20 feet.

Also, with the absence of sun, students used battery packs to race their cars.

Zack hoped that through the project, students would be able to learn more about renewable energy and affordable electricity.

“In conjunction with the Junior Solar Sprint, it’s more looking at affordable solar electricity,” he said. “It’s approachable because the cost has come down a lot, and I think it’s important for kids to understand what our choices are here.”

After conducting several test runs, students raced their cars six lanes at a time, where winners were determined through a double elimination process.

Student Ryan Fitzmaurice said he liked the project because it involved learning science in a more hands on way.

“It was a change from normal science and we got to apply what we had learned,” he said.

Team members Hannah Roberts and Deseree Somerville also agreed that the project was enjoyable, despite some challenges along the way.

“There were ups and downs, but it was just really fun,” Somerville said. After test running their car, she said they were both “happy it worked.”

“I just think it’s a fun way to end the year,” added student Matt Beard, who constructed solar car “It’s All Good” with partner Adrie Stinson. “Kids who don’t participate in class have definitely been more into it, having more of a hands on (project).”

dkim@timesrecord.com