In July, Eastern Kentucky’s Somerset Independent High School and Johnson Central High School competed in the 31st annual Solar Car Challenge and took home top honors from the trip to Fort Worth, Texas.
Somerset Independent and Johnson Central joined 30 other high school teams from across the nation at the competition held at the Texas Motor Speedway. The objective is for teams to accumulate the most miles over the four days of racing. During the race, car breakdowns, weather conditions and team experience limit the number of miles a team can drive each day.
Somerset Independent High School’s team, the Solar Jumpers, ranked No. 1 in the Electric-Solar Division, completing 330 laps and accumulating 495 miles. The Solar Jumpers clocked the most laps in the Electric-Solar Division all four days of competition. In addition, the team received the Chris Jones Award, given to the solar car team displaying the highest level of good sportsmanship.
Johnson Central High School’s team, EagleX, finished fourth in the Classic Division, completing 216 laps and accumulating 324 miles. The team was also honored with the Oncor Award, presented to the solar car team best representing the Solar Car Challenge education program to their community.
The Solar Car Challenge was established in 1993 by educator Lehman Marks.
“Students who take part in the Solar Car Challenge have a 23% greater chance of going into a STEM career than students participating in other STEM programs. This is the top project-based STEM program in the country,” Marks said. “We teach the kids how to build a plan, come up with a budget, fundraise, how to engineer the car and manage the project, all while they’re learning about how to harness energy from the sun to make a car go down the road.”
Marks’ efforts have paid off for 2024 Solar Car Challenge participants and current first-year Pigman Scholars, Brandon Grass and Cameron McCaskill. Grass, formerly a member of Johnson Central’s EagleX, is from Van Lear, Kentucky and studying mechanical engineering. McCaskill, formerly a member of Somerset Independent’s Solar Jumpers, is from Somerset and also studying mechanical engineering.
