Inland Empire, CA – Students from Chino Hills High School’s Solar Cup™ team, co-sponsored by the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) and the city of Chino Hills, were among the 300 students from 16 high schools recognized at Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s virtual Solar Cup™ awards ceremony on Thursday evening.
Due to a shift in the learning environment, Solar Cup™ 2021 mirrored the virtual environment of last year’s Solar Cup™ competition in which students from high schools across the region worked in teams to complete a variety of activities and challenges ranging from robotics, online gaming development, social media messaging, and more. The final challenge involved a virtual, 20-foot race of solar vehicles built from recycled materials where winners were selected based on speed and design creativity.
First, second and third place award categories were used to judge the 10 challenges students completed over the last several months. Chino Hills High School was recognized for a total of nine awards during last week’s ceremony. The rankings of Chino Hills High School’s Solar Cup™ team is as follows:
- Teamwork Award
- Blender Challenge – Greater Time Commitment – 1st place
- Robotics Challenge – Greater Time Commitment – 1st place
- Electronics Challenge – 1st place
- Green Career Challenge – 1st place
- Solar Vehicle Challenge – 2nd place
- Public Service Announcement – 2nd place
- Onshape Challenge – 3rd place
- Spirit of Solar Cup Award Bart Bezyack Award – Samantha Olivar of Chino Hills High School
“I am tremendously proud of the multi-award winning students from Chino Hills High School,” stated IEUA Board Secretary/Treasurer Steve Elie, who represents the city of Chino Hills. “Their hard work shows true passion for the program. Their top-notch performance in these difficult times also highlighted the importance of teamwork and adaptability. Congratulations to the Chino Hills High School Solar Cup™ 2021 team and their dedicated advisor for these great successes.”