High school students from 24 schools across the US have
converged at the Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas to race in the
annual 2012 Solar Challenge. The students are participating in
the educational race to see which team can complete the most
laps around the speedway over a four-day period. The event,
which is organized by Solar Car Challenge Foundation President
Dr. Lehman Marks, began in 1993, as an extra curriculum activity
at The Winston School where Marks was head of science. Since
then it’s grown to a national competition. “The purpose is to
try to help motivate high school students in science,
engineering and technology,” Marks said. Under the program
students engineer, fund, design, and ultimately build a
photovoltaic car to compete in the annual event, which
alternates between competing on the race-track and a race across
states. The program has proven popular, according to Marks.
“2013 is the 20th year. Right now we have 85 schools building
and designing and working on solar cars,” he said. “Over 40