An all-girls STEM team from Boyle Heights Solis S.T.E.M. Magnet High School is competing at this year’s Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix (H2GP) World Final, dubbed the largest hydrogen competition in the world.
Las STEMateras is one of four all-girls teams to qualify for the finals, which brings 45 student teams from 13 countries to the Anaheim Convention Center this week. Students from as far as France and Australia will race their own hydrogen-powered, remote-controlled cars. The car that completes the most laps in six hours wins.
Equipped with a bright pink hydrogen-powered car they designed and built themselves, Las STEMateras is the first all-girls team from Boyle Heights to put their remote control car to the test in the competition.
“We’ve been preparing by staying every day after school for hours practicing, racing and building our car so that once we get [the] world [prize], we can be the best version of ourselves,” said Diana O.,16, an 11th grader in Las STEMateras.
Sitting on the floor of a long narrow classroom converted into a racetrack with an adjoining workshop for repairs, Diana keeps time as her teammate skillfully maneuvers the car zipping around the track hugging curves. The school recently relocated from Roosevelt High School to the Hilda L. Solis Learning Academy, which limited build time and required them to practice on weekends.
“As Latinas who grew up in a low-income environment, we lift each other up, especially in a field like this that is male-dominated,” said Anggie L., a 10th grader on the team who became interested in STEM after building a robot in a sixth-grade robotics class. She wants to major in aerospace engineering and become an astronaut. “I see myself working in the clean energy field because in the future, aerospace crafts and aviation will run off of hydrogen-like cars.”
In order to curb climate change, the transition to clean energy is expected to create millions of jobs over the next several years. In California, the goal is to have a zero carbon footprint by 2045. In 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an order that mandates all new passenger vehicles sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs) like the one Las STEMeras built are the future of vehicle engineering.
“You start off with the hydrogen and put it inside [the car],” said Ashley T., 16, an 11th grader in Las STEMateras. “It runs through the fuel cell and converts it into electricity which powers all components of the car.”
SoCalGas, the nation’s largest natural gas distribution utility, paid for Las STEMateras’ car building kit and registration for the event. In an effort to create racial and gender equity in the workplace, the company plans to invest $50 million over five years into communities like Boyle Heights. While women make up 47% of the workforce, they only account for 32% of workers in renewable energy, according to a report prepared for the National Association of State Energy Officials. Las STEMateras is the only team sponsored by SoCalGas to qualify for the H2GP World Final, gaining exposure to over 60,000 clean energy professionals.
Composed of six high schoolers from each grade, Las STEMateras are the second team from their 10-year-old STEM magnet high school to make it to finals. Last year, Los STEMateros (an ode to the neighborhood eloteros and paleteros) competed at the final for the first time, placing 13 out of 26 high school teams from around the world.
“I wanted to teach this class to provide an opportunity for the community I grew up in, something I would’ve wanted when I was a kid,” said Las STEMateras teacher coach Israel Hernandez, who returned to his neighborhood after college and helped open the STEM school. “That’s my passion.”
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