The Class V Solar Car Race, as always, brought excitement to the tennis court race track, including notable moments when the sun made a most appreciated appearance! With crowd favorite Ms. Pernell making her last appearance as race emcee, the banter and music playlist were equally entertaining. When pleading for students to return the battery packs to the starting line she reminded them, “those cannot be used to charge cell phones!”
Notable moments included the Twin Showdown where “Lightning McQueen” (created by Owen Myers and Brody Upton) edged out the lovingly named “Beat Owen” by Owen’s twin Zach Myers and his partner Riley Park. Some cars, like “Pizza Pizza” (by Emily Bao and Cali Cerutti) and Speedy Sis (by Skylar Stadhard and Ava Neal) were just raring to go… and go they did! Some went right off the track, spawning multi-car crashes and threatening to ruin some teams’ dreams of race day glory! Others, like the lemon-colored “Mister Pikachu” (by Jackie Zhang and Lagene Jones Richardson) looked great as they hugged the starting line throughout the race.
Awards were announced after a heroic finish for 3-D printed “The Batmobile” (by Zac Gordon and Will Santoro) that beat out second place finisher “Lightning McQueen” by a mere 0.2 seconds! “The Blue View” (by Katherine Jennings and Clare O’Connor) tied with “Litty & Nitty’s Solar System Car” (by Nitty Moore and Lydia Gatnik) for Best in Show and each car also placed high in three other judged categories! Way to shine, ladies!
Ultimately, Class V students were all superstars as much of the student body, faculty and parents turned up to enjoy a little healthy competition served up with a traditional barbecue picnic. Victory or not, the project process and race day experience were still sweet!
2019 Solar Car results:
SPEED
1. The BatMobile – Zac Gordon, Will Santoro
2. Lightning McQueen – Brody Upton, Owen Myers
3. Beat Owen! – Zach Myers, Riley Park
4. Litty & Nitty’s Solar System Car – Nitty Moore, Lydia Gatnik
5. Thunder McQueen – Sam Soukas, Will Doyle
6. Arthur – Michael Cullinane, Tom Smee
CRAFTMANSHIP
1. Speed Demon – Emma Sanders, Cam Cowperthwaite
2. Litty & Nitty’s Solar System Car – Nitty Moore, Lydia Gatnik
3. Hestia – Olive Gifford, Joy Kim
4. The Blue View – Katherine Jennings, Clare O’Connor
5. The Speeddemon -Harrison Dolgoff, Josh Mirob
CREATIVITY/INNOVATION
1. Solarship – Alexander Lee, Elise Reuppel
2. Litty & Nitty’s Solar System Car – Nitty Moore, Lydia Gatnik
3. The BatMobile – Zac Gordon, Will Santoro
4. Speedy Sis – Ava Neal, Skylar Stadhard
5. The Green Machine – Lindsay Saunders, Fiona O’Keefe
TECHNICAL MERIT
1. Arthur – Michael Cullinane, Tom Smee
2. The Blue View – Katherine Jennings, Clare O’Connor
3. Speedy Sis – Ava Neal, Skylar Stadhard
4. Hestia – Olive Gifford, Joy Kim
5. JJ Demon of Speed – Grayson McClements, Arnav Harve
GREEN MACHINE (SUSTAINABILITY)
1. The Green Machine – Lindsay Saunders, Fiona O’Keefe
2. The Blue View – Katherine Jennings, Clare O’Connor
BEST IN SHOW
1T : The Blue View – Katherine Jennings, Clare O’Connor
1T: Litty & Nitty’s Solar System Car – Nitty Moore, Lydia Gatnik
3T: The Blue Car – Charles Wang, Christian Figuereo
3T: The Green Machine – Lindsay Saunders, Fiona O’Keefe
-Reporting by Dr. Regina Campbell Malone and Mr. Averill
