4th Ave Jr High builds a racetrack for students
Students have an opportunity to learn about cars - News 11's Arlette Yousif reports
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Fourth Avenue Junior High School introduced a new program called DRIVE where students learn about cars to get them thinking about future careers in the auto industry. Not only do students learn about maintaining vehicles on a smaller scale, but they also get to race them.
Students were excitingly cheering on their classmates.
"We just started learning on how to use the cars, on how to change it, tune it, stuff like that, and yesterday we just put that in," says Fourth Avenue Junior High student Alejandro Burgos.
An empty lot across the street from the school has been converted to a race track that students helped put together.
"Our principal got permission from the pastor of the church over here with this lot and we graded the whole lot, turned it into an RC track, just got our cars. So the program is just, you know, in its infancy stage," explains Fourth Avenue Junior High Industrial Arts, RC, Drafting Teacher Dr. David Cullison.
The Yuma Arizona Business and Education Coalition created the drive program to introduce students to all aspects of transportation while incorporating math and physics. So far 17 students are enrolled in the class, but they plan on adding more soon. Teams of four will be responsible for three remote-controlled vehicles.
"We want students to start exploring ideas or thoughts about careers. We think it’s really important that students be involved in activities that are hands-on that are relevant to the learning. We think that facilitates learning," says Yuma County School Superintendent Tom Tyree.
And students were definitely hands-on.
"What I did was I laid out the tubing with my teacher and with the help of my classmates, they helped me put in the hooks to hold the tubing down so it wouldn’t move or fly away," explains Burgos.
Currently, there is one period dedicated to the DRIVE class, but there are plans to expand.
