Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield and Republic High School are proud to support science innovation and celebrate the National Park Service Centennial by hosting a stop on the American Solar Challenge. University teams from around the world will design and build solar-powered cars, and then drive them 1,800 miles on the open road during an 8-day rally.
This National Park Service Centennial event will take place from July 30 to August 6, 2016. Over the course of the rally, the cars will stop at nine different National Park Service sites in seven states, including Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Missouri. Visitors are invited to see the cars and enjoy the other activities offered the day of the rally stop, including a traveling exhibit. You can find more special experiences in the national parks at FindYourPark.com.
As part of the 2016 Centennial, the National Park Service has challenged itself to provide more research and education around the effects of climate change on national park resources. Among other things, the Green Parks Program encourages walking, biking, ride-sharing, and use of fuel-efficient or alternative-fuel vehicles. The American Solar Challenge highlights these efforts by bringing solar-powered cars to parks.
Every two years, the Innovators Educational Foundation organizes the American Solar Challenge, which is a collegiate student design competition to design, build, and drive solar-powered vehicles in a cross-country time/distance rally event. “We’re looking forward to the American Solar Challenge 2016 being part of the National Park Service Centennial and bringing the solar cars to 9 national park locations across the Midwest. We hope visitors will take this opportunity to see the solar cars, meet the teams, and find their park,” says Event Organizer, Gail Lueck.
The American Solar Challenge will begin at Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio on July 30, 2016 and end in Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota on August 6, 2016. Midway stops include Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park, George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, Homestead National Monument of America, and Scotts Bluff National Monument. More information is available on the American Solar Challenge website.
