BOCA RATON – A group of Boca Raton high school engineering students is back home after a competition in Texas where they made “Miami Proud” with a solar-powered car they built from scratch.
For the Florida Atlantic University High School students, it was their first time participating in a solar car challenge. The program they are in is designed to motivate students in science, technology, and alternative energy.
Ava Palazzollo and her nearly 40 classmates spent two years designing, planning and building their solar-powered set of wheels.
“When I joined the club it was just a carbon fiber frame that we had to epoxy together ourselves. Then we had to add all the bits and pieces, the motor, the MPPTs (Maximum Power Point Tracking), you know all the good stuff,” she said.
The car absorbs energy from the sun and then sends it to the motor. It is the first car of its kind in Florida that’s been built by high school or college students. Palazzollo said she’s impressed every time it starts up.
“It’s amazing to me that high school students could build this entire thing,” she said.
Palazzollo and her team recently competed in a solar car challenge competition in Texas against other schools with solar-powered cars. They came in second in a race and took home the gold for best engineering design.
“It’s amazing. Honestly, we spent so much time in this, countless hours, each of us,” she said.
The students may have found their next project, improving the car’s ability to charge while driving which Palazzollo said may be why they lost the race.
“It drains more than we charge it. That’s why we had to take frequent breaks during the race to charge up. But maybe next year,” she said.
