Update: Franklin Solar Cup Team Seeks Funding

The on Thursday evening unanimously voted in favor of approving a $1,000 grant for a group of students who are hoping to participate in the 2012 Solar Cup Challenge.

As previously reported on Patch, the team has been working together since September to build a craft solar powered water craft that will race in 2012 Municipal Water District Challenge, to be held at Lake Skinner in Temecula Valley between May 18-20.

The $1,000 grant from the neighborhood council--which now needs to be approved by the budget and finance committee--goes a long way toward defraying the vessel's $4,000 construction cost, said Solar Cup team advisor Sharon Bergh. 

Since the team was featured on Patch, Bergh said that several donors and volunteers have stepped forward to help support the team.

Bergh said that La Cañada High School, who have been supporters of the Franklin team since its inception, will be holding a Valentine's Day dance to raise funds for the team.

Fresco Community Market has also pledged to contribute to the team. Owner Jon Murga said he would donate 2-percent of any purchase when customers used the code 8643.

Team President Salvador Perez--who told the neighborhood council that he'd just been accepted into UC-Northridge--said the program had fostered a love of science in many of his classmates.

"A lot of the kids who participated in this program, they didn't really know what they wanted to do academically," Perez said. "Now, they know exactly what they want to do."

Previously:

A reclaimed Boy Scout canoe, about 16-feet-long, rests on planks in a bungalow behind . It's a Spartan-looking but sturdy vessel, almost entirely free of embellishments save for one. Etched on it's thwart are the words "Electric Panthers," the name of the team who hopes to race it to victory in the May 2012 Municipal Water District Solar Cup Challenge.

This year's Solar Cup, to be held between May 18-20 at Lake Skinner in Temecula Valley, will be Franklin High School's first competition, according to team President Salvador Perez.

A former student at , Perez participated on the charter school's team during his sophomore year. When he transferred to Franklin this year, he brought his desire to compete in the solar cup with him.

Since September, the solar cup team has recruited a small but dedicated team, ranging from students like Henry Li, whose future aspirations include a job in math or science to Maria Jiminez, who said she was looking for a club that would allow her some hands on experience in engineering and fabrication.

"I saw some of the fliers around the school and I wanted to see how solar panels work on something other than a house," said Jessy Baltazar, a soft-spoken sophomore. "I wanted to work on something, first hand."

Though few of the solar cup crew members knew each other before teaming up, club Vice President Jesus Ruiz joked that the team was now "like family."

The long hours required of a demanding competition like Solar Cup expedites the bonding process, Jiminez said. 

On some nights, the Solar Cup Crew will work until 9 p.m. inside Franklin, either preparing one of the three technical reports required by the Solar Cup competition, or fine tuning the design of their vessel.

Though the basic premise of the Solar Cup contest is simple--design a solar powered vessel that can withstand both endurance and speed trials--the devil is in the details.

The rules and regulations for the Solar Competition run 18 pages long, dictating everything from the maximum energy output of vessel's solar panel's (320 watts), to the maximum weight of the boat's skipper (60 kilograms) to the configuration of the skipper and the craft's instruments (skipper, steering, and instruments must be forward of the bulkhead, and the propulsion batteries and drive train must be aft).

Entrants are judged both on their craft's performance in both 1.6 kilometer and 200 meter races, as well as the quality of their design.

There is another challenge faced by Franklin High School, though, above and beyond those of their 41 competitors from across Southern California: fundraising.

As a rookie team, Franklin would typically be eligible for a $4,000 sponsorship through the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. However, the team came together after that deadline, and are instead hoping to raise the funds on their own.

So far, team adviser Sharon Bergh said the team has been promised $2,000 in donations from La Cañada High School--a veteran participant in the Solar Cup.

However, with a solar array technical report due in February, the team is hoping to close the funding gap as soon as possible so they can begin building.

In December, Bergh and Perez went before the to seek a neighborhood purpose grant, but were asked to return with a more detailed request.

In the meantime, the Solar Cup crew said they're willing to accept anything the community is willing to give, be it a small donation or volunteer time.

For Perez, said that Solar Cup has been a galvanizing experience, which has allowed him to put his long held love of tinkering with cars and computers to work, not competing is simply out of the question.

"We're all physically and emotionally connected to that boat," Perez said. "It's ours. It's something we built."

Senior Cristina Diaz, who said she learned how to confidently wield an array of power tools thanks to Solar Cup, said the competiton has activated her and her teammates' potential, and they are committed to seeing the competition through to the end.

"We're building something I never thought we could build," Diaz said.