Students build boats, teamwork skills for annual Solar Cup competition
Students from Calabasas High School and Camp David Gonzales, a juvenile detention center in Malibu Canyon, learned science and engineering skills by building solar-powered boats and racing them against 36 other teams at the 2016 Solar Cup competition.
The annual race, hosted by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, is a seven-month program in which teams of students build their own boats and prepare a public service announcement about water.
This year, teams from Calabasas High and Camp David each received $2,500 from the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District to purchase supplies.
In addition to attending boat-building and technical workshops to prepare for the competition, students worked with district representatives to develop their public service announcements.
This year’s theme was Conservation: Rain or Shine.
Tiffany Wright, public affairs associate for LVMWD, said Solar Cup allows young people to learn about electrical and mechanical engineering, boat designs and resource management and conservation. Participants learn to work as a team by collaborating on a range of projects involving administrative and applied work, Wright told district officials at a board meeting last week.
The 2016 program culminated in May with three days of endurance and sprint races at Lake Skinner in Temecula Valley, where teams tested the effectiveness of their designs
The Camp David Gonzales team is led by teacher Ty Kastendiek. The Calabasas team is led by Michael Yeungics and math teacher.
The two teachers and three students representing the local schools that participated in the Solar Cup attended the June 14 meeting to share some highlights of the competitions.
They also thanked district leaders for their continued support of the teams. LVMWD has been sponsoring Camp David for six years and CHS for three years.
Calabasas High team captain Jade Foley said she learned diverse skills, both organizational and practical, while participating in different stages of the Solar Cup boat-building projects over the past three years.
She also gained appreciation for the value of teamwork because everyone in her group shared responsi
bilities and tasks.
“It was interesting to see how everyone worked together to build the boat,” said Foley, who will pursue a career in environmental engineering.
Jonathan Ku, who joined the CHS team three years ago, said his involvement in Solar Cup helped him decide to study mechanical engineering in college.
Ku and Foley both graduated from high school this year.
Jose, a student from Camp David, told officials that the Solar Cup project motivated him to find a career path and sparked his interest in electrical engineering.
FULL SPEED AHEAD—A member of the Camp David Gonzalez team prepares his craft for the sprint race during the 2016 Solar Cup competition. Courtesy of LVMWD The Calabasas High team finished seventh overall and took first place in the 200-meter sprint competition among Foothill Region schools. Camp David Gonzales School placed 16th overall.
“I will take these skills with me and carry them on,” said the student, who drove his team’s boat during the endurance race at Lake Skinner.
Solar Cup is one of many educational programs sponsored by LVMWD that gives young people real-world opportunities to learn about water, science, engineering, math and teamwork.
This year, LVMWD and Triunfo Sanitation District worked with Westlake High School’s career technical education coordinator, Laurie Looker, to pilot a job-shadow mentorship program for students who are interested in learning about careers in the water industry.
During the four-month program, 10 students were paired with district staff members whose job duties were most closely aligned with the students’ areas of interest. The students spent time with their mentors, learning about their jobs, touring facilities and seeing all that’s involved in the local water and wastewater operations.
Six of the 10 WHS students who completed the program were recognized at a board meeting in May.
Other LVMWD community and school programs that seek to educate people about where drinking water comes from and where wastewater goes include quarterly facility tours, an annual poster contest for children and a $107,000 annual sponsorship to fund Las Virgenes Unified School District’s fourth/ fifth-grade science program.
