Day in the sun: Dozens of high school students compete in Solar Olympics at UWO

Green Bay West students present details of their solar-powered oven design to judges during the Solar Olympics at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Young students who spent the morning racing solar-powered cars, heating water and cooking food using the heat of the sun, say the Solar Olympics event at UW-Oshkosh has them thinking about ways to be better with energy production and consumption.

"At one point, we're not going to have enough renewable energy," said Kolten Seidel of Pembine High School, who considered the benefits of solar power. "We need to find a way to keep ourselves afloat."

Seidel and his cousin, Carter Seidel, were with their biology teacher, Nikki Sotka, who has been attending the Wisconsin Public Service Solar Olympics for more than a decade. The two were among five freshman students from Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine school district who competed in a solar car race (theirs was named the "Red Rocket") a Solar Olympics trivia contest and solar artwork.

"We know improvements to make for next year," Carter Seidel said, holding needle nose pliers.

Three students from Three Lakes High School in northern Oneida County, were warming five gallons of water in a large metal pan they had painted black to improve heat conduction. They said they would do better next time with a flatter pan that was covered in plastic wrap to hold the heat.

The three, Ashton Boehn, Ethan Potrykus and Cohen Welsh, said their main focus on Wednesday was with a solar-powered car. Students and their teacher left Three Lakes at 5:15 a.m. to make the trip to Oshkosh.

Green Bay West physical science teacher Gretchen Weitermann brought a large group of 15 students to the competition.

"We had a really good turnout (of interested students) and it's been really fun," she said.

Some of the students were attempting to cook smores inside a foil-line cardboard box covered with plastic wrap. A heat gun showed the temperature inside the solar-heated makeshift oven was 84 degrees and chocolate was starting to melt. Students consulted their phones to see what temperature was needed to melt the marshmallows.

Student Sophia Knudson said they modified a previous design by adding extra panels to the box and an extra layer of tin foil, along with the plastic on top holding the sun's rays.

Weitermann said at least a couple of aspiring engineers are on her team.

The event concluded with a Solar "Jeopardy!-style" competition inside Culver Family Welcome Center, awards ceremony and lunch.

Wednesday's event was the the 30th annual Solar Olympics, with schools traveling to the event from across Wisconsin.

Learn more: