Holley seniors Ryan Johnstone and Shane Moak took first place in the High School Engineering Competition sponsored by Monroe Community College. Both are students in the Precision Machining class at the BOCES 2 Career and Technical Education Center. Over a dozen academic and technical schools in the area participate in the annual competition. To complete, students build a remote controlled car that is less than four pounds and smaller than an 8 by 11 inch sheet of paper. The motors are supplied by MCC. "The students need to use a lot of machining skills, plus they have to come up with their own concept," said Al DiProspero, precision machining teacher. The competition consists of about seven elimination rounds. Cars move on to the next round if they can push the competition off a nine-foot round table. "I wasn't so sure we'd even get to compete because the car wouldn't run, then we got it running and it was over weight," said Ryan. By drilling holes in the car, they were able to reduce its weight and make it to the final round where they eliminated three other cars. May 28, 2006 |
