“Both the solar car team and the sculpture included students come together to create something more sustainable.”
Solar Car Racing: Martin High School students build sustainable vehicle
ABOUT MY ONE MINUTE DOCUMENTARY
By Shelby Carter
Students at Martin High School are working together to build a more sustainable way to race using solar panels to power a go-cart. Led by faculty advisors Josh Ogg and Brandon Searcey, the team learns about electricity, car mechanics and renewable sources of energy, specifically solar power.
There are two teams that work together to build the car: one focuses on the car’s structure, building the frame, and the other focuses on the electrical aspect, gathering solar panels and lithium batteries. While Ogg and Searcey teach and help build the car, it’s the students that lead the team, run social media pages and come together to build the solar car.
Starting in Searcey’s classroom, the students gather to get a run-down of what needs to be done on the car, like replacing the lithium batteries and filling up the vehicle’s tires. After a quick lecture and demonstration of certain tools, Searcey leads the group out to the parking lot to the trailer holding the car.
Both Ogg and Searcey have experience working on cars, with one of Ogg’s first jobs being in car electronics and Searcey is a licensed engineer. They currently teach students in the Arlington ISD STEM Academy at Martin High School, with Ogg teaching mathematics and Searcey teaching engineering courses.
The Arlington Museum of Art recently featured Willie Cole’s Giant Water Bottle Sculpture. Cole called this concept “artcycling” and his artwork served as the inspiration for this documentary. Students, teachers and families from the Fort Worth Independent School District came together to collect 20,000 water bottles for the sculpture. Both the solar car team and the sculpture included students come together to create something more sustainable.
Meet Shelby Carter
Shelby Carter is a student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she also works as a news reporter for The Shorthorn, a student-run newspaper.
Raised in Arlington, Shelby graduated from James Martin High School in 2021. In her spare time, she likes to watch movies, play video games, read books, watch hockey and play with her four dogs.
About AMA+UTA CreateCollab
Throughout the Fall 2024 semester, the Arlington Museum of Art is partnering with The University of Texas at Arlington and a senior-level digital storytelling class to explore a wide variety of contemporary themes inspired by the museum’s mission, values, and exhibitions.
Class projects include photo essays, one-minute documentaries, and one-minute podcasts about themes as broad as creating detailed flower arrangements, a life saving cat cafe, everyday heroes, and environmental art.
Associate Professor of Communication Erika Pribanic-Smith, who teaches the class, values opportunities to bring real-world experiences to her students.
“My goal is to give my students real-world experience in all of my classes, creating real stories using real sources,” said Dr. Pribanic-Smith. “Creating stories that will be published for the public to see, not just submitted for a grade, gives students extra incentive to put forth their best effort. Furthermore, working with professionals gives the students another layer of feedback to reinforce what they’re learning in the classroom. I prefer to work with organizations like the Arlington Museum of Art who will benefit in some way from the students’ content so that we are providing a service to the community.”
