At Principia School, learning doesn’t stop at the classroom door—it scales. So, when the fourth-grade class was presented with a renewable energy unit—building toy solar cars—a natural opportunity emerged to collaborate with experts in the field just up the River Road—the award-winning Principia College Solar Car Team.
To tap into the insights of our affiliated College scholars, Principia fourth graders donned their winter jackets and boarded the bus to travel to Principia College to meet with role models and mentors from its nationally acclaimed solar car team. And what began as a toy solar car build quickly turned into real-world implementation, and genuine connection.
With notebooks in hand, the fourth graders were met by College Solar Car team lead Hamza Njuba (C’26), and mechanical engineering student Adesuwa Dawodu (C’26) who gave the students a full-scale tour along with a hands-on examination of one of their original road-ready solar cars.
After an in-depth question-and-answer session with scholars, the young minds began to realize how the boxes of toy components back in their classroom would fit together to make something meaningful and useful. They also began to understand how their work could scale into electrical circuitry that harnesses the sun’s power and even energizes their toys with renewable energy.
Fourth-grade teacher Audrey Cleveland (C'09) noticed the immediate connection of her students, saying, “Just seeing a completely built, life-sized solar car gave them a grander vision and confidence for what they were doing back in class.”
To further illustrate how solar power captures the limitless energy of the sun and converts it into reliable, clean energy, the students also toured Principia College’s premier Solar Fields with College Associate Professor of Sustainability and Economics Nick Johnson and Assistant Professor of Sustainability Kynan Witters Hicks (C’14).
Cleveland noted, “On the bus ride back to school, students were already thinking beyond their toy solar cars and into the larger, powerful uses of solar and wind energy.” She continued, “They saw how their toy-car components can turn into something that matters—the purpose and importance behind it—and how they can make connections with the real world.”
This cross-campus connection illustrates that there are no closed doors to knowledge at Principia—just a shared mission. College students gained leadership and mentorship skills while they imparted years of engineering insights and knowledge to the younger students. Together, Principia School and College form a single pathway of growth—proof that when education is vertically aligned, even a toy car can carry a grand vision.