Engineering, teamwork, and perseverance were on display as a small group of Year 8 students took on a real‑world STEM challenge. The Synergy Solar Car Challenge provided a valuable opportunity for students to test their problem‑solving skills beyond the classroom.
Towards the end of last term, Tuesday, 24th March, four Year 8 students proudly represented Rehoboth at the annual Synergy Solar Car Challenge held at Southern River College. This event brings together schools from across the region to design, build, and race solar-powered cars in an afternoon of fun and friendly competition. 2026 saw a team of four girls compete for the college, Julina Kim, Sarah Lockyer, Annie Richards and Daisy van der Kooy.
Unfortunately, the weather on the day was rather overcast and while we thankfully avoided any rain, there was not enough sunshine to be able to power the car from the solar-panels meaning they had to resort to using batteries making the building of the car slightly more complicated. The girls found themselves in a particularly competitive heat and their car was unable to progress to the subsequent round. It was a fantastic opportunity to connect with students from other schools and to showcase their creativity and problem-solving skills, something for which I would really like to congratulate Julina, Sarah, Annie and Daisy on. The time and effort you put into preparing for the event by giving up some of your lunch times to practice building and wiring the car was a pleasure to witness!
