2013 Regional Junior Solar Sprint Winners

Students from nine Fairfax County Public Schools and five private schools won awards at the 2013 Regional Junior Solar Sprint (JSS), a competition to design, build, and race model solar electric cars, held last Saturday, May 25, 2013 at Langley High School.

The goal of JSS is to stimulate interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for students in grades 4-8. JSS is a satellite event of the USA Science and Engineering Festival and is sponsored by the U.S. Army Outreach Program. This year, it was hosted by TJ STEMbassadors, Young Scholars Circle, Electric Vehicle Association, Technology Student Association, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

Each JSS team, consisting of two to four members, is tasked to design and build a model solar electric car no larger than 30 x 60 x 30 centimeters powered by sunlight, and race against other teams. The students applied their knowledge of aerodynamic drag, rolling resistance, weight, and drive train to maximize their cars for speed and reliability. The race is a double elimination competition with awards going to the fastest three cars. 

NOVICE DIVISION (grades 4-6)

Speed Category

1st place Speed - Alice Fontaine & Alex Kao-Sowa (Haycock ES)

2^nd Place Speed – William Ivey & Charlotte Bushman (St. Ambrose School)

3^rd place Speed – Ryan Phillips & Brent Barbaro (St. Ambrose School)

                    Balan Roshini, Boppudi Avishka, Champa Narayana (Flinthill School)

Design Category

1^st place Design - Balan Roshini, Boppudi Avishka, Champa Narayana (Flinthill School)

2^nd place Design – Michael Black, Sylesh Suresh (Our Lady of Good Counsel)

3^rd place Design – Elori Smile (Amherst Elementary School)

JUNIOR DIVISION (grades 7-8)

Speed Category

1^st place Speed – Clara Fontaine & Josh Mosier (Longfellow MS)

2^nd place Speed – Daniel Li (Hunter Woods ES) , Andrew Liu, Derek Ni & Keely Wan (Floris ES)

3^rd place Speed – Aneesh Kotnana (Rachel Carson MS) & Harsha Chivaluri (Franklin MS)

Design Category

1^st place Design – Mattia Shin (Rocky Run MS)

2^nd place Design - Daniel Li (Hunter Woods ES) , Andrew Liu, Derek Ni & Keely Wan (all 3 from Floris ES)

3^rd place Design – Emily Tirrell, Kayla Santos & Isabella Ventigmiglia (Belmont Ridge MS)

Special Awards

Overall Technical Merit  (Novice & Junior Division) – Mattia Shin (Rocky Run MS)

Use of Recycled Materials(Novice & Junior Division)  – Edward Sungyup (Lorton Station ES), Katerine Yujin Noh (Laurel Hill ES)

Special awards from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Electric Vehicle Association were presented to Mattia Shin’s team of Rocky Run MS for Technical Merit, and to Edward Sungyup of Lorton Station Elementary School and Katerine Yujin Noh of Laurel Hill Elementary School for Use of Recycled Materials.

A total of 29 teams, 12 in the Junior Division (grades 7-8) and 17 in the Novice Division (grades 4-6), competed in the Regional Junior Solar Sprint. The TJ STEMbassadors, TJ students and some parent volunteers served as official inspectors and race masters. Young Scholars Circle’s teachers and staff served as judges in choosing the winners for the design category. JSS teams took the responsibility for the design, construction, and performance of a model solar electric vehicle.

Junior Solar Sprint winners and all the JSS Virginia teams are given the chance to compete again with more schools from Washington, D.C., and Maryland schools in the Greater DC Junior Solar Sprint on Thursday, May 30, 2013. For more information on upcoming JSS event, please contact Charles Garlow at Garlow.charlie@epamail.epa.gov or Krishna Belino at (571) 426-4639 or email kbelino@TestPrep-VA.com.

For a video of the 2013 Regional JSS competition, visit the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXilRDlHnzyXN3nIHAmfcOYL8BazI-mLm

 For some pictures of the event, see the link below:

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A2GQOeMmJFppXb