By Rachel Vigil

Most students have probably seen the vehicle that has sat in our lobby these past few weeks.

This vehicle is the engineering class’ new project, a hydrogen-fueled car. Their goal is to race a similar model at this year’s Shell Eco Marathon in Detroit on April 9.

The engineering class’ takes place in second and first periods. The main goal of this class “is to create an environment for project based engineering projects,” said Sprague. Unlike the robotics class, projects are long term and not based off of the Technology Student Association.

As expected, the car is currently this class’  most time-consuming project. To qualify for the Shell Eco Marathon, they only need the car to work. To win, your car must have the best fuel mileage. The weight of the drivers, the fuel used, and the speed the car is going are all factored in as part of the mileage.

In this class, upperclassmen mentor freshmen and sophomores but everyone’s ideas are listened to. Young engineers get a chance to hone their skills and meet those with similar interests.

 This year is the engineering class first year at our school, and they already have 40 students in all the engineering and robotics programs. However, the percent of female participants is slightly lower than the national average of about 18%. When asked about this low number, Chuck Sprague, the teacher of both of the engineering classes, said that, “too many people categorize,” and, “it’s the individual that’s important.”