Start Your Engines!
This year students from Neal Middle School are taking part in the new Start Your Engines! summer camp where they have been designing, building, practicing and tweaking their remote-controlled race cars in preparation for the culminating race that was held on July 7.
This three-week camp is a component of the Neal Transformation Project. This year Neal moves to its new model as a Science, Technology, Engineering, Math - or STEM school, Using the Ten80 Racing Challenge curriculum, a part of the NASCAR STEM initiative, students are actively engaged in math, engineering and physics instruction, team building, goal setting, project management and problem solving – but their favorite part is driving the cars.
Not only are the students learning a lot but they are also becoming familiar with their new middle school. All 66 participants are rising 6th graders who are scheduled to attend Neal Middle beginning in the coming school year. A portion of their day includes meeting with a school counselor to prepare for life in middle school and a smooth transition.
The grand finale of the whole camp was the end-of-camp Racing Challenge that took place at Southern High. Students got the chance to show off their racing skills.
