Numerous teams from ten schools compete

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake School District children are tapping into a source of energy bigger than even their biggest sugar highs: the sun.

Fifth grade students from 10 elementary schools are racing solar-powered cars they built themselves in anticipation of a final tournament next month. The event is organized by Grant County Public Utilities District, while REC Silicon and Chemi-Con Materials provided funding.

The next race is Friday, and it's the last race before the final tournament, Oct. 13.

Last Friday, Knolls Vista Elementary and Discover Elementary conducted separate races to determine the fastest vehicle at each school. Teams raced cars down a short runway in groups of two. After each school has a winner, teams with the fastest cars face off to win a fancier solar-powered car kit.

Jim Frank, energy services specialist at the PUD, said the PUD provided a basic kit but students assembled the cars themselves.

"They had to put it together, tape it together, follow a sheet of instructions and build their own car," Frank said.

Bailie Kendall and Taylor Bullinger, fifth grade students at Discover Elementary, credited another student, Danielle Crawford, with fixing their vehicle so it could run during the race.

"We called our car, 'The Wild Thing,' because at first, it wouldn't work at all," Kendall said.

Kathy Hynes, teacher at Discovery, said even though students planned to compete, they still helped other teams build their cars. At first, students felt frustrated while assembling the kit. After the motors were attached and they could see their cars in action, frustration gave way to excitement.

Crawford, the student credited with repairing another team's car, said she loved learning how to piece the parts together.

"This is the best project we've ever done," she said.

Crawford and her teammate, Kayla Yearout, received third place ribbons with a time of 2.58 seconds, but the race was close. Kathleen Waters won first place with a tenth of a second lead at 2.482 seconds.

Hynes said she believes students realized the construction of a car influenced its speed, since every car started out identical in kits. They learned to make minor adjustments to the cars once they were built.

The project was intended to introduce students to the sun as an untapped energy source, Frank said.