PLANTATION, FLA. (WSVN) – A team of South Florida high school students is already back in the engineering lab after winning its second straight national Solar Car Challenge championship.<\/p>\n
Students across Broward and Palm Beach returned to the lab at South Plantation High School, laser-focused on their next big project while still overjoyed about their great accomplishment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very surprised. I honestly did not expect to get all of the miles,\u201d said student Oliver Collins.<\/p>\n
\u201cExtremely exciting,\u201d said student Tomas Negron.<\/p>\n
Students with the 4-H TechGarage said its solar-powered vehicle captured back-to-back national titles in the Texas competition after completing every available mile during the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just kept going. More miles, more miles. Every day we got more miles,\u201d said Collins.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis race was 656.7 available miles. We drove every single inch of it,\u201d said coach Allan Phipps.<\/p>\n
The team is made up of students who design, build, and race their own solar-powered vehicle across the Lone Star State.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese students are learning CAD skills, electronics, engineering skills, as well as a lot of the career readiness skills like teamwork, time management. communication, collaboration,\u201d said Phipps.<\/p>\n
Students said the project was very challenging but lots of fun and educational.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just put in so much time into this car and were able to get first,\u201d said Negron.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was such a fun experience that you can\u2019t get anywhere else,\u201d said Collins. \u201cSo many things that just I think will come in handy when I do become an engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team also said the experience taught them valuable lessons beyond engineering.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about how fast you can go. It\u2019s not about how good one person is on the team. It\u2019s about how well a whole team works together to make a machine work like a well-oiled machine because that\u2019s what a team is and that\u2019s what our team was,\u201d said Collins.<\/p>\n
Now, the group is turning its attention to next year\u2019s competition, making adjustments to improve both the car\u2019s range and top speed as it looks to win a third consecutive national championship.<\/p>\n
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