Navajo Preparatory YL Student Excels
At 15 years old, Kelly Charley has already designed a mechanism to improve our environment. She’s achieved this objective through the reconfiguration of the poly-tubing inside a self-sufficient solar heating system. Kelly replaced the “coil” design of the tubing with her newly-developed “snake” design. The hypothesis behind her vision was that the “snake” design would allow the anti-freeze to circulate freely by thermal convection, whereas the “coil” design prohibited the development of a constant flow.
Fairly advanced conceptual analysis for a high school freshman. Kelly’s brainchild entitled, “Using Water to Heat a Solar Hogan” was the end result of her science project at Navajo Preparatory School this past school year. She went on to submit her design at many science fairs and won honors in the engineering categories at every competition. They are as follows:
1st Place – Navajo Nation Science & Engineering Fair
1st Place and Best Overall Science
Project Senior Division – San Juan Regional Science & Engineering Fair
1st Place and Dr. William A. Gross
Memorial Award – New Mexico Science & Engineering Fair
1st Place and Galaitis Family Award and NM Mesa Student Best Science Fair
Project High School- National American Indian Virtual Science & Engineering Fair
Finalist – INTEL ISEF International Science & Engineering Fair
As a perfectionist, Kelly maintains there is more work that can be done to enhance this idea, such as the implementation of different materials to increase the efficiency of the system.
Being a multifaceted individual, Kelly Charley persues other interests as well. When not involved in designing devices to enhance our lives, she enjoys taking care of the family’s livestock and running. Kelly is a participant in FFC’s Youth Leadership program.