Nearly 300 students revved up their passion for STEM education as their cars raced in the second annual UTRGV Electric Car Competition, which took place on April 6 on the Brownsville campus.
The competition hosted nine middle schools, 13 high schools and three college teams from across South Texas, which competed in the parking lot of the Biomedical Research and Health Building.
Despite strong winds, students, coaches and parents arrived around 8 a.m., when they checked in and worked on the final inspections of their cars.
Alec Ledezma, an eighth- grade student from Perkins Middle School in Brownsville, competed with the Stallions Electric Racing Team and his father, Julio Ledezma, the team coach.
Father and son said they built the electric car last year and it took them about three months. This year, they had the car ready for competition in two weeks.
The competition consisted of three 90-minute races per division, where the electric cars needed to cover as much distance as possible with one set of batteries. Teams were scored based on their race results and on presentations they gave to the judges the day before.
Garcia Middle School placed first in the middle school division; Oliveira Middle School,ย second; and Faulk Middle School, third. All are Brownsville schools.
In the high school division, Lamar Academy in McAllen earned first place; Science Academy of South Texas Maroon Team, second; San Benito High School, third.
South Texas College earned first in the college division; Texas A&M University-Kingsville, second; and UTRGV Edinburg campus, third.
In the crowd watching the event was Beatriz Villanueva, mother of Ximena Villanueva, a racer and an eighth- grade student at Garcia Middle School.
Villanueva said this is her daughterโs second year as a racer, and last year Garcia Middle School placed second.
โI get very excited to see her so enthusiastic about this,โ Villanueva said. โShe just has a passion for the engineering, for the [building] of the car. โฆ She is the type of girl that likes to defeat the odds, you know how there is not enough women out there in the engineering field. Sheโs like, โIโm going to be that one, Momma.โโ
Last year, UTRGV was the first in Texas to host the Electric Car Competition, said Veronica Gonzales, vice president for Governmental and Community Relations. ย
Drew Sparks, vice president of academic affairs for GreenpowerUSA Foundation, said he started the pilot program five years ago in Huntsville, Ala., with only 13 kids.
โSeeing this just is the best thing that I can imagine, because five years ago, if you were to [tell] me, you are going to be in Texas running an amazing event with some amazing people, I probably wouldnโt believe it,โ Sparks said. โThis is absolutely incredible.โ
GreenpowerUSAโs objective is โto advance education in the subjects of sustainable engineering and technology to young people,โ according to its website. โGreenpower runs engineering challenges for schools based around designing and building a single-seat, electric-powered race car.โ
The event was sponsored by Tipton Auto Group, Brownsville Public Utilities Board and the American Electric Power Foundation.
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