San Diego Teens Go Undefeated, Winning the National Junior Solar Sprint

San Diego, Calif., July 10, 2017 (Newswire.com) - ​Two locals were recently crowed the national winners of the Junior Solar Sprint after beating out competitors in every single heat. The winners, Hayden Loarie and Ramses Lara, graduated from Joan Macqueen Middle in Alpine last month. During the school year, they designed and built ‘Dan II,’ a solar-powered car that went undefeated in the local and national Junior Solar Sprint events.

The Junior Solar Sprint is a competition where fifth through eighth grade students work in teams to build and compete model solar-powered cars that are judged on design, originality, construction and fastest time. San Diego-based Sullivan Solar Power, who has been sponsoring this event locally since 2009 in collaboration with IBEW Local 569, donated 300 solar kits to regional schools. This year the local race was expanded to include middle school students across Southern California. The event took place on May 20, and had over 200 students participate from 20 regional schools.  

"Our goal in sponsoring the Southern California Junior Solar Sprint is to inspire our future leaders to learn and become excited about solar power."

Daniel Sullivan, president & founder of Sullivan Solar Power

Dan II had recorded the fastest times at the Southern California Junior Solar Sprint competition, and ranked first for overall design, originality and construction. As the winners of the Southern California competition, event sponsored and coordinator, Sullivan Solar Power, paid for the winning team and two chaperons to attend the national competition in Orlando, Florida at the end of June. Dan II continued its winning streak, recording the fastest time, winning every heat and earning the overall award once again.

“What set us apart at the competition was the time we put into our car and the process of improving our design from last year’s,” said Lara, who spent over 80 hours tweaking his car with teammate Loarie between the regional and national competitions, “Besides winning, my favorite thing about the competition was seeing how the other teams worked to achieve the same goals.”

Lara and Loarie have worked on numerous engineer projects together in school this year. They used their engineering passion and skills from a 3D design project to create the fastest solar-powered car in the competition. Even in the final race, Dan II smoked its competition, finishing multiple seconds ahead of the second-best car in the nation. Competitors and their parents were reportedly shocked that middle school students knew how to use a 3D printer, which helped make the car so successful.  

“The Southern California qualifier put on by Sullivan Solar Power was done in a way that made it exciting and fun. It created an opportunity to help us excel at the national level,” said Lara, “We are grateful to Sullivan for all the opportunities they have provided.”

Sullivan Solar Power puts a focus and priority on educating the community on how to utilize solar power to transition away from fossil fuels.  The company offers educational seminars and lessons to elementary school students through adults, showcasing how to power our homes, businesses and vehicles (even model cars) by the sun.

"Our goal in sponsoring the Southern California Junior Solar Sprint is to inspire our future leaders to learn and become excited about solar power," said Daniel Sullivan, founder and president of Sullivan Solar Power, "Our expectations were far exceeded this year watching Hayden and Ramses take the national title, setting the standard for next year's competition.”

Proud father, Chris Loarie, makes the prediction that future Junior Solar Sprint contestants for years to come will adopt several of the innovative solutions that Dan II had, addressing common design problems that other competitors were faced.

For additional information about the local champions or to learn more about the Junior Solar Sprint, visit www.juniorsolarsprint.org.  

Source: Sullivan Solar Power