April 13, 2007 — Ten St. Croix students won more than they even knew was possible at the Junior Solar Sprint Race Friday at the Sunny Isle parking lot.
The 10 students, along with their mentors, will be traveling to St. Thomas for further competition in May.
Although 23 V.I. schools were to participate in the V.I. Energy Office Solar Sprint, last-minute problems with the ferry made it impossible for the St. Thomas students to come to St. Croix. St. John students made it to the race via Seaborne.
Bevan R. Smith Jr., director of the Energy Office, said he knew this was a disappointment to the St. Thomas students, so he wanted to schedule another competition on that island.
No trophies or certificates were passed out Friday to school teams winning in the design or speed categories event. The teams' design scores were tallied and they will be kept until the St. Thomas schools are judged using the same criteria.
The top design teams were not announced. In the speed category the Arthur A. Richards School was the big winner with teams from that school taking first and third place. The first-place team was comprised of Rahman Smart and Josh Eusbe. Second place went to IQRA Educational Center with teammates Eman Abdelghani and Amaal Idheileh. Third-place winners were Inle Amos and Jenell Watts.
Susan Cissel form Kingshill School said, "My students had a wonderful time designing the car. The kids are very excited; they placed in the first heat. We got in on the tail end of the program; we hope to get started earlier next year."
This year the event was blessed with sun, making the cars go relatively fast. Last year, several races had to be delayed because of heavy cloud cover.
Each school was given three car kits by the Energy Office, which is a division of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources. The students used the motor and solar panel from the kits, but they could be creative with design.
Don Buchanan, a spokesman for the Energy Office, said, "We were disappointed that the St. Thomas students could not make the event, but pleased overall with the performance of the schools that did participate. It was easy to see. The students were having fun and learning about the power of the sun at the same time."
Students participating were seventh- and eighth-graders.
Local sponsors for the race this year included:
• HOVENSA
• Quality Electric Supply Inc.
• Hendricks International
• Cruzan Rum, LTD
• Wendy’s
• Paradise Waste Inc.
• Le Bleu –
• Isle 95
• The West Indian Company Limited
• Sustainable System & Design Int’l
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