Palo Alto HS students take on Solar Car Challenge, building vehicle from scratch for 1,400-mile race

By SHAWN CHITNIS

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    PALO ALTO, California (KPIX) — Students from Palo Alto High School will compete together for the first time in the 30th annual Solar Car Challenge this week, showcasing months of work in a 1,400-mile race. Students formed the Palo Alto Solar Racing Club, the only one from the Bay Area, to be among more than 20 teams entering the competition this year beginning in Texas and traveling to Palmdale in Los Angeles County.

“When I first started getting into cars I was like, ‘Oh it’s shiny, I like it,'” said Manasvi Noronha, who created the team with her mother. They were looking for an extracurricular activity that could fuel her passion for automobiles.

The concept of building a solar vehicle from scratch was quite an undertaking even with her interest. “It was really new to me, I was actually super confused,” said Noronha.

The competition was created in 1993 to motivate students in the fields of science, technology, and alternative energy, according to organizers. The Palo Alto team began preparing for the challenge in October and spent three months building their car earlier this year. The group making the team barely knew each other prior to joining their newly formed racing club.

“Getting girls interested in STEM is pretty hard, we only have like four girls on this team with all these guys,” Noronha said. “I’m just really proud of how much we’ve accomplished, we started in October and we knew absolutely nothing about manufacturing, fabricating, stuff like that.”

The boys and the girls shared the responsibilities and leadership roles throughout the process, many of them too young to even drive as they get ready to start the competition. As each month went by, their hometown and the surrounding area often gave them inspiration in their first effort to take on this challenge.

“It feels really good to be part of something that starts in Silicon Valley, you know, you see all these revolutionary companies, they start here,” said Alaap Nair, another racing club student. “Once we actually built a car that can drive, a lot of people look at it and they’re like, ‘Wow, we didn’t think you’d do this!’ so once a lot of people see that it’s possible to do. It’s really easy for us and it’s really easy for us to influence others to do the same thing.”

The team arrived in Texas on Monday night, ahead of their vehicle on its way by Tuesday. The competition kicks off later in the week from Fort Worth. There will be many stops before they are set to reach the end in Palmdale.

“We had no idea what we were doing, none of us had built a car or participated in a competition of this magnitude so there was this spirit of can-do and let’s figure it out together,” said Rupa Chaturvedi, who is the team coach. “I think this is next-level work, it basically helps you think through problem-solving from a completely different perspective.”

When Chaturvedi says these high school students are taking on graduate-level concepts, she’s not only referencing her time at Stanford University but her experience teaching design at the same institution.

“I believe this is a multi-year project,” said Chaturvedi. “We’re not done, we’re gonna’ be right back next month, start our next car.”

Just days before the team was set to leave, they put the finishing touches on the vehicle and drove the car around the neighborhood. Chaturvedi was behind the driver’s seat since many of the students don’t have a license to drive.

“I’m extremely proud of our team and what we’ve done,” Noronha said. “Once you start working on things and you start solving problems and stuff like that, basically challenging yourself, it all makes a lot more sense.”

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