A long running scheme aims to encourage children from a variety of diverse backgrounds to build a race car and engage with STEM skills.
It’s the sort of thing we all wish we could’ve done at school, and Greenpower Education Trust is making it happen.
Ten schools from around London are working to produce a race car to compete at the UK rounds at Battersea Park this summer. The challenge is to build a working, single-seater race car using STEM skills and inspire students.
Greenpower aims to instil young people with the practical skills to go into a career in engineering, and teach other requisite skills – teamwork, negotiation and communication.
Students get involved with other aspects too looking at marketing, budgeting and the various business challenges of getting a product to market.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of SMMT, who hosted a special session where students from Chelsea Academy build a display car at SMMT’s central London headquarters, was enthusiastic about the project.
“This is a great initiative to get young people involved and especially to get them involved in the automotive industry,” Hawes commented.
“The SMMT supports the Foy education which encourages disadvantaged people to get involved with the automotive industry.
“To meet the challenges of the industry in the future, we’ve got to get more women and people from different socio-economic background involved today.”
Chelsea Academy’s Year Ten students were just one group of teens from around the globe who will take part in the competition which is now in its fifteenth year.
Argentina, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and the USA will all battle one another in the race for the championship.
The scheme strives to engage with a diverse range of students, from all backgrounds in an effort to show the rewards of engineering to those who might not normally be exposed to it.
