Saturday, we went on a testing trip to give some of the new recruits an idea of what it’s like on the road. The adventures of today brought back fond memories of this past June’s American Solar Challenge as well as of my freshman year on the team. I remember the excitement felt in learning about the car – how it works, the makings of it, etc.- and the thrill of taking the car across the country during ASC. Inevitably, the car required troubleshooting during today’s trip. Watching the head engineers on our team educate the newcomers on the problems and features of SC5 reminded me of how much fun it is to be a part of this learning experience and team in general, which to me, has been like a second family thanks to the wonderful upperclassmen who selflessly devote an incredible amount of time to working on the car (their baby) and instructing underclassmen. So far, the turnouts at the electrical and mechanical training sessions held for the new recruits have been excellent so we hope to have everyone applying their new skills in no time, and we are all looking forward to working together to design the next solar car!

Valerie Chen