CHRISTOPHER PEREZ: Captain for TZHS Solar Car Challenge 2013
While other students were basking in the sweet last summer before university, Palisades resident Chris Perez was piloting a modified golf cart Mad Max style across 500 miles from Texas to California. Chris was captain of the Tappan Zee High School team for the Dell Winston Solar Car Challenge 2013 www.winstonsolar.org/challenge. This innovative program began in 1993 to motivate students in science and engineering, and increase alternative energy awareness.
The Challenge teaches high school students how to build roadworthy solar cars. This was a first ever effort for Tappan Zee High School and the inspiration of Science teacher Jim Keelty with co advisor Nick Disantis. The idea was born of Keelty’s passionate belief in bringing real life, real world engineering to kids in our high school. Keelty wanted to offer interested students a chance to translate fact from paper to product. And what a product. The Challenge requires students to design, engineer and build a solar car, then race that solar buggy across miles of parched desert from Texas to California. It’s a “challenge” on every level: intellectually, physically, and financially.
The lowest point in this complex process happened in early February 2013. With a deadline to file, there was not enough sponsorship to make this project happen. The Solar Car Club took to the streets approaching big companies in hopes of raising the needed funds. They approached every major corporation with links in Orangetown. Results were dismal. Keelty sent an email to every teacher he knew to ask if they might have a lead on a company that would be willing to take on major sponsorship for this project. Who stepped up? Our neighbors; Nelson Metals of Pearl River, Curtis Instruments, Schott Solar and O & R. There was still a great big hole. If big players like IBM could not find a way to come up with the cash then the project would be scrapped. Keelty got an email about a guy named O’Sullivan. Jim O’Sullivan, owner of O’Sullivan Tree Care loved this kind of practical engineering. A graduate of TZ, he was tickled that students from his alma mater were taking this on. Mr. O’Sullivan stepped into the breach. He supported the project with thousands of dollars and provided his RV with car trailer and manned support to flatbed the solar car to Texas. Without O’Sullivan and the other sponsors this adventure would not have happened. It was “game on” for TZ’s team.
The 2013 team called themselves “Zon Vermogen,” Dutch for solar power and their car ”Super Nova.” The race began with orientation and judging. Judges in Fort Worth “scrutineer” (I love this word) each entry and ensure that it meets precise standards. The race began and Team Zon Vermogen (ok, it doesn’t trip off the tongue but, hey, these guys are brainiacs not brand namers) was flying at the start. Super Nova can reach a max 60 mph but was held at about 15 to 25 mph to conserve battery life. The car passed many of the other nine competitors. Team Zon Vermogen (you will get used to it) was doing great; they were rookies with a good chance to place. Initial euphoria turned to despair when every mistake from that sprint at the beginning of the race to the hilly topography the team had not factored in cost a lot. The team stuck together and worked out every problem in its path but by end of day one the team was near the bottom of the pack. It was a long dust-spitting trip and, ultimately, our team came in ninth out of the ten teams competing. Nevertheless, the judges were impressed with the rebound from its start and said Zon Vermogen was not the same team that started in Texas by the time they got to LA.
Mr. Keelty is in his thirteenth year at South Orangetown. He teaches AP Physics, which is where he had Chris as his student. Super Nova is stored at school waiting for the next team. Mr. O’Sullivan and the other sponsors did their bit and Keelty is looking for sponsors for the next Team Zon Vermogen. If you know a person or a company that can help, Keelty knows a bunch of kids with a lot of brains at a school called Tappan Zee. Send him a note; jkeelty@SOCSD.org
And Chris? Well, while heading up the student team from TZ for this competition, Chris worked stage crew/audio tech for the spring musical, held down an average 25 to 30 hour week job at Shoprite and completed his project to achieve Eagle status in the Boy Scouts. Chris Perez is a freshman at Ithaca College with a major in Computer Science and two minors: Audio Production and Game Development. How does he describe freshman life in Ithaca? “Really easy, compared with last year.” No kidding.
Watch this cool video:
http://www.youtube.com/atch?v= atch?v=a0gZ2BPQhcU