Yucaipa, CA—After four years in competition, the Colton High Solar Boat team broke into the top three at the annual SoCal STEAM Challenge, taking both second place overall and the event’s distinguished Sportsmanship award.
From May 1-3, Yucaipa Regional Park was the center stage for the event, in which eight schools across the Inland Empire competed in a series of races and challenges involving boats, designed, and operated by students using solar power.
Throughout the weekend, teams participated in a series of races such as the sprint race, the slalom race, and the endurance race, all testing the limits of the boats’ design and use of solar power. In addition, teams competed in other events, including a tech inspection, a tech report, Public Service Announcement (PSA) content, and a PSA Presentation.
For CHS students, this was a half-year long project. In addition to taking second place overall and receiving the Sportsmanship award, they were successful in a number of events throughout the weekend: placing first in the sprint race and tech reports, second in craftsmanship, and third in both the slalom and endurance races.
Graduating STEAM Club member Tommy Lopez reflected on the excitement of being part of this team. “I honestly loved being a part of the STEAM Club. It brought me multiple opportunities for me to learn from my peers and in-turn to be a guiding hand for my underclassmen.”
The weekend started strong for the Colton team, but wasn’t without challenge. After taking first in the sprint, it looked like they were ready to repeat in the slalom. However, despite a great beginning in which Colton took a sizable lead, during a particularly sharp turn, the boat took on water and nearly sank.
“This wasn’t because of bad craftsmanship,” said advisor Dan Hearon about the mishap. “It was because the boat took the corner so fast that the water flooded in. The pilot gunned it and still managed to finish the race in third with a boat flooded with water. We were the fastest thing out there.”
Heidi Alarcon was skipper of the boat during the slalom, and kept a level head during the race. “In that moment, all that mattered was finishing the race. But most importantly making sure everyone who came after me was safe and away from danger.”
All of the boats this year had sides that were 3/4 of an inch shorter than in previous years due to the kit provided to each team by the competition committee. The flooding caused the exterior wrap of the boat to separate, which resulted in lost points for craftsmanship.
But even through this, the boat came out intact and only needed new 3D parts to continue. Hearon wasted no time and went back to CHS midday to 3D print the broken parts so the team could continue to compete.
Later that day, students spent time in the afternoon presenting their PSA presentation to the judges. And later stayed into the night for a campfire experience accompanied by s’mores, campfire activities and a warm fire.
Sunday was the last day of the competition with the endurance race taking place. Unfortunately the weather was not on the team’s side. For the entire race the sun was not out, causing the team’s boat to underperform. After the race the team enjoyed lunch and accepted their awards taking second place overall while Yucaipa High took first.
“I thought it was a wonderful experience,” said Hearon. “I was very impressed with the team. The way they responded to the issues that arose during the competition, how they interacted with the other teams, and that was evident by us winning the best sportsmanship trophy. We had a really good year. We took a first place, a couple third places, and second overall. So that shows the work and the time and the dedication that went into the whole process. And I was very proud of the students, proud of how they behaved and represented the school. And I’m happy with the whole weekend.”
