Events at PVSC

This year, virtual PVSC held two competitions for middle and high school students: a Solar Energy Video Pitch, and a Future Narratives competition. You can read the original call for submissions at the bottom of this page. Find below information on the winners, judges, as well as the opportunity to read some of the entries and watch some of the videos.

Solar Energy Video Pitches Winners

• First place: Solar4Students: School Pavilions. Alyssa Dora Cortez & Jawed Nur. Incoming 12th graders from Bioscience High School, Phoenix Arizona.
• Second place: Hybrid Solar Panels. Jasmin Martinez Castillo. Incoming Junior for Bioscience High School, Phoenix Arizona.
• Third place: Everlasting. Yash and Veer Pahwa. Yash is in 12th grade and Veer is in 9th grade at Tower Hill School, in Wilmington DE.
• Honorary Mentions:
  • Makin’ it Photovoltaic. Faith Skinner and Andrew Kallai. Faith and Andrew are rising 12th graders at Appoquinimink High School in Middletown, DE.
  • Aqualidad. Maryan Robledo. Maryan is a rising Junior at Bioscience High School, in Phoenix AZ.

Future Narrative Winners

• First place: Bon City. Jazmine Cordon. Jazmine is an incoming 9th grader from Sevilla West Middle School. Jazmine’s submission has also an accompanying video to the narrative.
• Second place: Sincerely, Maisy. Bonnie Law & Mallory Creveling. Bonnie and Mallory are 7th graders at Gunning Bedford Middle School, in New Castle DE
• Third place:
• The Future of New Solar Cell Trees. Irwin Wang. Irwin is an 8th grader at Odyssey Charter School in Wilmington, Delaware.
• S.O.A.R. Since 3040. Alyssa Dora Cortez. Alyssa is an incoming 12th grader at Bioscience High School, Phoenix AZ.
• Honorary Mentions:
  • Follow the Light. Venezia Alana Figueroa. Venezia is a 9th grader at Bioscience High School, Phoenix Arizona.
  • Miner 145. Andrew Zhao. Andrew is a rising senior at Charter School of Wilmington, in Wilmington DE.
  • A day in the life in a solar-powered world. Aidan Hearn. Aidan is a 7th grader at Northley Middle School, in Aston PA

Sponsors
Thank you to IEEE and Electron Devices Society (EDS) for sponsoring this event. If you’re interested in sponsoring this event, view our sponsoring opportunities in each year’s PVSC Website under Exhibit/Sponsorship.

Mentors and Teachers
We are very grateful for those involved in organizing this event, and mentoring some of the students. This year, also big kudos go to the parents of many of the contestants.



Judges
Many thanks to all our Fabulous Judges. Thanks to them, each student received full feedback on their entries, with 8 to 10 reviews from educators, national labs and industry. The interaction between students and the established PVSC community is very important for engaging and fostering the new generations of solar warriors, dreaming of photovoltaic solutions.

• Ember McCall – QESST RET, Teacher in Phoenix High School Union District
• Marcela Campbell – QESST RET, Teacher in Tempe High School District
• Ruth Anderson – QESST RET, Teacher at Alhambra Elementary School District
• Tamra Smith – QESST RET, Teacher at Alhambra Elementary School District
• LaVerne Tijerina – QESST RET, Teacher at Alhambra Elementary School District
• Janet Ankrum – QESST RET, Teacher at Alhambra Elementary School District
• Rebecca Glaudell – QESST Caltech Grad. Student
• Nicholas Valdes – QESST Grad. Student UDEL
• Austin Kuba – QESST Grad. Student UDEL
• Stefi Weisburd – QESST UNM Educator
• Tiffany Rybiski – QESST ASU Educator
• Daniel Lepkowski – Grad. OSU
• Zak H Blumer – Grad. OSU
• Jeremiah McNatt – NASA
• Laura Spinella – NREL
• Dr. Vishal Sharma – NREL, Fulbright Climate Fellow
• Taylor Moot – NREL
• Mark Mikofski – DNVGL Industry Scientist

About the Middle & High School Competition
The competition is a cornerstone event of PVSC, providing students in Middle and High Schools the opportunity to create a solar energy project and showcase it during the conference. This year, PVSC was held virtually and the format was modified to a solar energy video pitch, and a future narratives competition. Next year, these remote options will be kept as a way to showcase STEAM and engage students from many locations, but the build/experiment portion is expected to come back for PVSC 2021.

For more information on the Middle & High School competition, to participate, to sponsor, or to become partner with us if you’re in education, outreach or similar-goal groups in solar or energy, contact us to [email protected].

The awards for the Middle & High School competitions "Solar Future Narratives" and "Solar Energy Video Pitch" will be presented at virtual PVSC at a live event on Friday June 19th, 12 PM EDT.

The event can be accessed by PVSC attendees through the live-event agenda. Students, parents and teachers that participated in the events will get a joining invitation email and link. If you are interested in attending, or have not received a link, please contact us to [email protected]

We thank all of the contestants for contributing to the public conversation on the future of solar energy! A selection of the stories and pitches will be available after Friday, June 19, on this same website.

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Calling All Photovoltaic Enthusiasts for the Middle & High School Competition

This year, the most important photovoltaic conference in North America is taking place online June 14-19. Instead of the usual poster presentation of the semester-long projects, Middle and High school students are invited to participate in two competitions to showcase their solar projects and ideas:

1) Solar Energy 90-second Video Pitch Competition
2) Solar Future Narratives, a storytelling competition

Awards will be available on both competitions for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. A selection of the submitted videos and narratives will be presented at a session during the online conference, during which winners will also be announced. This session of the conference will be free to the public. More information of date, time, and link to join forthcoming.

Click on each of the categories above to see more details of each competition, and direct all your questions to [email protected].

This year, the most important photovoltaic conference in North America is taking place online June 14-19. Middle and High school students are invited to participate by pitching their solar energy projects in a 90-second video. Share your idea of how solar energy can make our future more sustainable, how solar can improve your community, or demonstrate your photovoltaic engineering project. Record your pitch and submit by June 10th to be judged by world famous photovoltaic engineers. More information at https://www.ieee-pvsc.org/PVSC47/events-YouthScholars.php.

Details:

• Upload your video file by June 10th. Tips for recording can be found below.
• Video pitch is restricted to 90 seconds. Videos over 100 seconds will be disqualified. Tips for making a great pitch can be found here.
• Topics can be wide-ranging - just make sure it’s related to solar energy. You can show off your photovoltaic project and prototype or share your most innovative idea for a solar energy innovation to improve the world. Be creative!
• Teams can range from 1 to 10 members.
• We are here to help. If you’re wondering if your idea is good enough to pitch, contact us. Our solar energy mentors can help you polish your ideas and work on your pitch.
• Some of the videos will be transmitted during a special session at the virtual conference. You, your school, and your family are invited to attend. To have your video posted to the PVSC website and be shown during the session, please have a parent sign the release form here.
• 1st place competitors will receive $500, 2nd place $300 and 3rd place $200. There’s also an opportunity to win honorary mention.

Direct all your questions to [email protected].

Tips for Recording:

HOW TO PREPARE:
Select a quiet room in your home at a quiet time, and take a horizontal photo of where you’d be standing with the background behind you so you can see what it will look like and make any lighting or adjustments if needed. Avoid standing in front of a window as that will cause you to be backlit. No tech beyond a cell phone and a quiet room is required (but fun props and a good background are a bonus). In your video (record horizontally!), you may want to have someone else in your home record for you and hold up 5 fingers and then 2 fingers to count the time before the end to keep you on track. Alternatively, you could record using your computer’s camera and show information from your screen as well using the OBS studio website.

This year, the most important photovoltaic conference in North America is taking place online June 14-19. Middle and high school students are invited to participate by sharing their vision of what a future powered by solar energy might be like. Imagine a future where most of the energy we use is produced by the power of the sun. Create your own story that is rooted in the lives and the communities you care about. Consider the ways that human societies and energy systems are connected. How would a solar energy future affect your school, your neighborhood, your family and friends? How would global climate change be improved or worsened?

1st place competitors will receive $500, 2nd place $300 and 3rd place $200. There’s also an opportunity to win honorary mention.

What Should My Story Include? No idea is too small or too big. Tell the story that matters to you using words, images, music ... Below are some questions to consider:

Who are solar technologies designed for? Who owns them? Who uses them? Who could benefit most? Who is adversely affected by new technologies?
What are the technologies we choose to design? What is their purpose? What resources are needed to produce those technologies?
Where will we build the solar energy systems – both big and small – and how does that affect their design?
Why did we choose that place? Why is it important – or why isn’t it – that we strive to make technologies beautiful?
When do we imagine these technologies taking shape? When do we need to get started to see these future visions come to be?
How do we work together to turn our best visions into preferred reality?
How has the Covid-19 health emergency made you think about the future differently? In what ways has this “pause” made you think how you might want to live differently? How does solar energy fit into the new future you can imagine for yourself, your family, your city, and your world?

How Do I Share My Story?

• Submit your written, drawn, or recorded story by June 10th to be judged by world-famous photovoltaic engineers. More information at https://www.ieee-pvsc.org/PVSC47/events-YouthScholars.php
• Upload your video file by June 10th. Tips for recording can be found here.
• You may discover storyboarding is a useful tool for creating a narrative. These templates or this video might be helpful.
• All work must be your own. You may produce a story with a partner if you prefer, but both of you must be under 18-years-old to participate.
• Here is a link if you need to learn more about how solar energy systems work: www.pveducation.org - but you might also want to do a Google search for information on new photovoltaic or other solar energy technologies.
• We are here to help! Our solar energy mentors can help by answering technical and social questions about solar energy systems and photovoltaics. Just email us your questions, and we will put you in touch with a solar energy engineer. Please cc a parent or a teacher in your email.
• Some of the solar future stories will be transmitted during a special session at the virtual conference. You, your school, and your family are invited to attend. To have your story posted to the PVSC website and be shared during the session, please have a parent sign the release form here.

Direct all your questions to [email protected].