Since the Nuon Solar Team’s first participation in the Australian World Solar Challenge our teams prepare at Nightcliff Primary School in Darwin’s Nightcliff district. The collaboration is a successful one, as the Nuon Solar Team is welcomed with open arms every two years. What are the mutual benefits that make this collaboration such a successful one?
To perform well during an event proper preparation is a necessity, or (in case of the World Solar Challenge) a lengthy lead-up. Solar teams will arrive in Australia up to one and a half month prior to the start of the World Solar Challenge, finding a workspace which is both available and suitable for that period of time can prove a challenge. For the Nuon Solar Team the search for such a workspace is often short-lived: two e-mails back and forth and the collaboration with Nightcliff Primary School enters another year.
Nightcliff Primary School is a large primary school with over 500 students enrolled, all between 6 and 12 years old and spread over around 20 classes. On the school terrain the Nuon Solar Team is allowed to make use of “the Shed” (a workshed on the edge of the school terrain) and a general purpose room usually used for dance and drama lessons. The gesture Nightcliff Primary School offers us thus is clear, but what does the Nuon Solar Team do as a return?
First of all the Nuon Solar Team’s presence alone creates a buzz: children look up when passing, wave and give high-fives, and every now and then a curious pair of eyes will pop around the corner of “the shed” to get a peek. More important however is the fact that our presence gives Nightcliff Primary an opportunity to teach students about technology, for example by telling kids about Nuna in science classes, building mini-Nunas and have classes drop by at the shed to see Nuna up close. The big eyes, impatient tramping and urge to stand on the front row all indicate how excited all students are to see Nuna up close.
Contributing to in-school learning is not all though, as mentioned earlier the Nuon Solar Team also tries to contribute to lessons at Nightcliff Primary in other ways. One of the oldest traditions is playing soccer in the morning break, with the Nuon Solar Team taking on a selection of Nightcliff students (with the rest of the school cheering along the sidelines). The tradition has been continued this year, with two matches having already taken place. After a tight 3-2 victory for the Nuon Solar Team, Nightcliff stormed back with a 3-2 win in the second match to level the scores at 1-1.
A third and decisive match is needed therefore, scheduled to take place in just over a week’s time. No one knows who the winner of that match will be, what most people here do know is that the Nuon Solar Team will be back in two-year’s time, win or lose!
