Posted On: December 01, 2019
Four students from Caringbah High School competed in the F1 in Schools State Finals and put a whole lot of heart into their smarts.
The F1 in Schools STEM Challenge is the world’s foremost student competition for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Each year more than 17,000 schools in 44 nations take on the challenge of developing the world’s fastest miniature F1 car.
Here in Australia, approximately 22,000 students get involved every year. The Pegasus Racing Team; Josh, Ethan, Byron and Sankalpa from Caringbah High, participated in three days of competition at the University of Western Sydney against students from all across the state.
Mimicking the world of a Formula One team, groups of students must follow a pathway of engineering and manufacturing disciplines, they’re given access to real-world technology and soon become proficient in areas such as Coding, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Finite Element Analysis.
While the program is aimed at developing a host of technical skills to help students transition through high school, Pegasus Racing saw the opportunity to go beyond the standard required.
“We wanted to give back to the community somehow and wanted to make our project 'Bigger than F1',” said team spokesperson Byron. “Our logo is a Pegasus which in Greek mythology is a symbol of hope.”
“We chose The Kids’ Cancer Project because Ethan is closely involved with the charity having volunteered with them,” he said.
Along with racing in head-to-head sprints down a 25-metre track, the team had to do a series of presentations about the design of their car, marketing and industry collaboration.
“We designed a small model F1 car out of balsa and 3D printed parts,” said Byron. “It was built to reach a top speed 90km/h.”
“We placed second overall for our verbal presentation. The judges spoke highly of our cause and suggested we become mentors at our school,” he said.
Having raised more than enough funding for their campaign, Pegasus Racing Team generously donated $382 to The Kids’ Cancer Project to help the 950 children diagnosed with cancer in Australia every year.
Col Reynolds OAM, founder of The Kids’ Cancer Project said he was amazed at the generosity of the students.
“From the very bottom of my heart I want to thank Josh, Ethan, Byron and Sankalpa for this incredible act of kindness,” said Col.
“Not only have they tackled all the problem solving, project management, communication, presentation, teamwork, innovation, self-promotion, collaboration, marketing and entrepreneurialism skills that it takes to be part of F1 in Schools, they did it thinking of kids who are less fortunate than themselves.”
“I’m absolutely delighted these students chose to donate to science, they’re the winners in my eyes,” said Col.