Chamisa Participates In New Mexico Electric Car Challenge

Submitted by Chris Clark
on December 3, 2022
- 6:07 am

Chamisa students compete against middle school students in New Mexico Electric Car Challenge. Courtesy photo

Team #1 – ‘Not Fast, Just Furious’. Courtesy photo

LAPS News:

Handmade electric cars race down the track. This exciting event is where 10 students from Chamisa Elementary School in White Rock spent a Saturday in mid-November competing against middle school students.

Mrs. Hettinga’s 6th grade students participated in the New Mexico Middle School Electric Car Challenge in Albuquerque. The group consisted of Lauren Mueller, Jetta Parsons, Khloe C. Martinez, Ameera Finn, Sadie Carpenter, Mae Willard, Katie Gelfand, Lauren Evenhus, Aubrey Rushton, and Har Savari Khalsa.

The event was sponsored by Sandia National Laboratories in association with Los Alamos National Laboratory. It has been held for many years and was back in person for the first time since 2019. The event consists of teams building battery-powered model cars in order to race them for time, compete for their design, as well as the option to compete in a research oral presentation. Building a battery-powered car requires skills in both math and science.

The main goal of the competition is to generate enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills for middle school students.

Chamisa had two teams participate in all three events of the competition. They did the race challenge, the design challenge and the oral research presentation event.

In addition, the challenge helps teach students how to help the environment. It’s also good for teaching kids engineering and problem solving skills, which can be used later in life.

The students got up early Saturday, Nov.19 in order to arrive by 8 a.m. in Albuquerque. They competed against 41 teams for trophies and medals alike at the Van Buren Middle School in Albuquerque. They had an awesome time overall even though they did not walk away with a trophy.

Team #2 – ‘The Queen Bees’. Courtesy photo