Detroit High Schoolers to participate in annual Solar Car Challenge in Texas

Students from a Detroit-based after-school program who worked for 15 months to build a solar car from the ground up have headed to Texas to put their skills, knowledge and vehicle to the test in a race against teams from across the country.

Heroes' Alliance will compete in the annual Solar Car Challenge race — a national Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) — based program. The competition will see 32 teams from across 16 states travel to Fort Worth to participate in the event's largest race to date, the founder of the program said.

The organization joined the national competition in 2015 and has participated eight of the last 10 years. Eight students, along with a few staff members, have raised funds to make the 1,200-mile trip to be the only Michigan program to compete in the race.

"In Detroit, I don't think there's many programs like this," said Steven Barragan, a volunteer instructor for the organization. "It's really great that you get here and they don't charge you at all, either. Some programs charge students, some charge for other things, but this is completely free. It's like a family. We come together and we do everything that we can to get this car ready to have a great experience of Texas."

Benefits inside and outside classroom

Barragan, 20, of Detroit, joined Heroes' Alliance in 2019 and was later a part of the group's first team to win first place in its division in 2021.

His time in the program helped him develop a passion for mechatronics, the study of both mechanical and electrical engineering. He now attends Wayne State University, majoring in computer science, and has returned to Heroes' Alliance as a volunteer instructor to teach the newest group of students in the program.

Sebastian Dorn, 16, of Detroit, joined Heroes' Alliance two years ago, after a representative from the group spoke to his freshman engineering class. at Cass Tech. This week's trip is his second time competing in the Texas race.

"There's definitely been some ups and some downs," Dorn said. "There's always that great up whenever you're completed with a section of the car or project like, 'Dang, I really did all of that.' Like, 'I made all these parts I put in the car.' ... But there's also downs too. I can speak from personal experience, I've broken so many bolts. One time recently, I messed up an entire motor. We had to switch the motor, because I was padding in a bolt too hard and I broke it."

Dorn said the program's focus on STEM has helped him in the classroom and beyond.

"STEM education, in general, helps a lot with your problem-solving skills, even outside of STEM and things of that nature, because it teaches you to look at things in a certain mindset," he said. "Where you look at, 'OK, I want to do this. What's stopping me from doing this? How can I turn what's stopping me to something that's doesn't stop me anymore.'"

Tatiana Merritt, 18, of Detroit, another student competing in Texas for the second year, said Heroes' Alliance helped her grow into a better version of herself.

"I've been able to socialize more, because before I used to just be by myself — well not really. I would hang out with people, but they were really hanging out with me. I didn't really like people," Merritt said. "But when I got here, I learned to actually work with people, actually understand them better and communicate with people more."

Representing Michigan

While Heroes' Alliance is a free program to join, the Solar Car Challenge program does have a cost. Lehman Marks, founder of the event, said this year's cost for participating organizations was $2,500. That includes a $1,500 registration fee for the program and a $1,000 track fee to the Texas Motor Speedway, where the race will be held.

Mashavu Rogers-Fields, program director of Heroes' Alliance, said the total cost with fees, transportation and lodging for the kids and staff was about $30,000. That all-inclusive price, she said, can be a barrier for teams across the country to participate.

"It's a high honor" to be able to represent Michigan, she said.

"There's so many organizations that have registered," Rogers-Fields said. "But by the time you get down to the application fee, most of them have dropped off. And then more fees, they start acquiring, you get fewer and fewer people. So just to know that we are one of the long standing, you know, that can represent the state of Michigan. We're showing there's good things happening in Michigan."

The team relies on donated materials to build the car. Matthew Clark, a volunteer logistics technician for the team, said — Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) — a term for the main instructors — receive donations by reaching out to people they know. The most expensive parts of the car, he said, are the motor, speed controller, battery and the chassis.

Barragan said the cost of the motor was about $1,000, and the suspension was about $1,500 "at the lowest."

Aiming for a new record

The national competition starts Thursday and will run through July 17. It will be broken into two parts. The first, which takes place through Saturday, will be the qualifying round. Teams will go through seven different stations where they will be asked questions about their vehicle and demonstrate that their car meets the event's regulations, Marks said. The second part, from July 14-17, will be the actual race.

Barragan, making his second trip to the race as a mentor, said he's proud of the students for putting all the lessons they learn into practice, and that they can be confident in the decisions they've made on the build when they meet the judges.

"When they go to scrutineering, none of the SMEs and other mentors go with them, it's only the students, the judges and the rulebook," Barragan said. "And so they have to defend some of the decisions that we make, and obviously have to be in the rules. And if a judge has a problem with them, they discuss it with them, tell them and then if they don't pass, they come back to us and tell us what's wrong. Most of the issues are solved by the students, which is like the proudest moment there."

Merritt, who is graduating from University Preparatory Academy this year and will be attending college at Bowling Green University to study electrical engineering, said winning the race this year would be a great way to end her high school experience. She said it would also make a great story to tell the next generation of kids at Heroes' Alliance, as she hopes to return to the program as a mentor.

Aside from preparing for the Texas heat, Dorn said he's looking forward to finishing the race this year and seeking some redemption after last year's event was cut short due to the judges and a few teams coming down with COVID-19.

"Not only were we doing really good in the race last year, we were also on track to like beat the record for our division during that race," Dorn said. "If we kept going along the pace that we were going, we would've beaten the record and that would've been great, but I mean, I'm hoping this year that we can finish the race and maybe we're going to get a record this time."