Emily Carr Middle School's EarthCARE Activities

A group of students from Emily Carr Middle School (ECMS) has accepted a unique challenge. They meet every Thursday after school to work on developing a solar car. The students have finished building their prototype cars and are starting to build their race cars using the information they have learned building the prototypes.

Jodi van Beek and Mark Gilliland, both teachers at ECMS, are very proud of the work their students are engaged in. The students also have the support of a special mentor, Denis Thibault, who works at Nortel Networks and volunteers his time at ECMS to work with ECMS students every Thursday offering advice, suggestions and encouragement. Earlier this year, Denis designed and built a wind tunnel that has been used for a number of class activities but most recently for testing the solar car prototypes. It has helped the students understand aerodynamics and how to improve the speed of their cars.

ECMS will be entering 2 cars in the Earth Day Ottawa Solar Sprint competition this May. For more information on this project you can contact Jodi or Mark through the school's website.