Jackson-Madison County Schools sent four teams to the Greenpower electric car regional competitions held in the infield of Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama last weekend.
The four teams finished as top four in the invitational competition with Rose Hill bringing home the championship. Jackson Academic STEAM Academy, Community Montessori and Parkway Middle also finished in the top four.
“This is a huge deal for our students in the program, but also for the entire student body,” said Rose Hill principal Tiffany Green. “This is something the students really picked up on when they started competing last year and then as they improved and competed, the students now get excited to hear about how the team does in each meet when we come back to school the next Monday like they do hearing about how our athletics teams do.”
Teresa McSweeney is the chief innovation officer for Jackson-Madison County Schools. She didn’t get to make the trip to Talladega last week, but she said she was glad to hear from Green in real time.
“Our students have worked hard for this all year, and hearing from her and others from the other schools that were down there,” McSweeney said. “It was so good to hear that each school was doing well, but also great to hear that we as a district were excelling too.”
The students have worked with their cars all year to determine how to make their vehicle as competitive as possible in the competitions.
The competitions are putting their car on the track, which is situated in the infield of the NASCAR track, for 90 minutes and completing as many laps as possible in that time frame.
All four of JMCSS’ teams competed in the invitational competition because of limitations in who could compete in the qualifying competition, which requires at least four previous races. JMCSS’ teams had each competed in three.
“I’m a competitive person, and I’m proud of bringing home the invitational trophy,” Green said. “But I also like that when you compare how we did against how the other teams did in the qualified race that our performance would’ve come in second in that.
“So I think that’s enough to let me know that Rose Hill’s Greenpower motorsports program is doing something right so far.”
McSweeney said there’s been a lot of excitement district-wide for the teams and more schools have already expressed their plans to compete next school year.
“We’ve had industry partners like Toyota come alongside us and help our students by working with them, and I think other schools are seeing what the students at these schools are already accomplishing,” McSweeney said. “And just seeing all of that build up in the district and the community along with what we’re starting at Malesus this fall, I think we’ll begin to see even more growth in our STEAM education and see a big improvement in that for the district.”
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
