Engineering Design and Development students (from the left) Ashlee Wilmier, Andrew McCafferty and Lydia Koelle work on the electric car.Brockport High School Technology Education students are constructing an eco-friendly vehicle to compete in the National Shell Eco-Marathon in Houston, Texas April 5 through 7.
Hundreds of high school and college students will compete to see who can travel the farthest and use the least amount of energy.
The 23 BHS students began planning in September and six students will travel to Houston. Cars will race around the Convention Center (one city block) on an Indy-style track 10 times. The amount of energy consumed will be measured to determine the winner.
While there is a monetary prize for winning the competition, Technology Teacher Craig Coon’s main goal is to educate and inspire the next generation of engineers.
“We want them to have a real life experience,” said Coon. “Every time you watch the news you hear about fuel prices and energy – this is our future generation and we want to ensure there will be a strong workforce.”
GE is helping to build that strong workforce by funding the project and providing a team of engineers to mentor the students and answer their technical questions.
In addition to the Shell Eco-Marathon, students will travel to Watkins Glen on April 19 to compete in the 2013 Central New York Electrathon Challenge. The Electrathon is a part of the Toyota Green Grand Prix at the Glen.
To learn more about the Blue Devil Racing team and this project, visit http://bluedevilracing.blogspot.com/
