Team Marine to participate in QuikSCience Competition

In the process of transforming a gas-guzzler into an “eco-mobile,” Samo’s Team Marine has transformed students into research scientists.In the upcoming QuikSCience competition, an environmental science based eco-stewardship competition sponsored by QuikSilver, Team Marine plans on releasing two projects that they believe will dramatically decrease our carbon footprint and will make a lasting impression on the community.“Our students are kind of like eco warriors with scientific goggles on,” Team Marine adviser Benjamin Kay said.Kay hopes projects like these will cultivate his students’ love for science as well as decrease the country’s carbon footprint.“We are performing science to establish solutions as well as learn more about the problems at hand,” Kay said.Team Marine is split into two groups of six students with an alternate in each group. The two groups will be entering the QuikSCience competition with separate projects.The first sub-section of Team Marine is converting a 1971 red convertible Volkswagen super beetle into a fully electrically powered car. The team plans on eventually having the car’s batteries charged with solar panels through a solar carport that they hope to build.“So far my favorite part of the project has been installing the motor of the car,” Team Marine member Patricio Guerrero said.The second group is conducting a survey on the recently passed Single-use Carryout Bag Ordinance (S.M.M.C. 5.45). The group collected data from six supermarkets each week for a year before the law was put into effect, and will continue to collect data for the next year. They hope to effectively document the change that this law brings, as well as find insight into how it can be improved.Team Marine plans to present these projects to a panel of judges at the QuikSCience competition the week of March 12, 2012 at the University of Southern California.Ben WeillerStaff Writerbweiller@thesamohi.com