McMean’s junior high’s concepts of engineering and technology class won the annual KISD CO2 car competition. 

CO2 car winners 2013Pictured from left are Cadence Mckinney, Layla Hooshmand, teacher Dallas Bergstrom, and Emily Resch. Each earned first or second place in their respective competition.

The Katy ISD CO2 Car Competition is held each spring. The competition invites all eighth-grade concepts of engineering and technology students from all 13 KISD junior high schools, with each junior high allowed to enter five cars in three different contests. 

Students are able to choose between: big block design, wedge block design, or race car. The race cars are checked to make sure they meet required specifications and are then raced down a 65’ track. Some of the cars will race as fast as 50 mph, and most finish the race in under a second. The design competitions are judged by volunteers that work in the engineering field. This year’s volunteers were from Conoco Phillips and Halliburton.

Cadence McKinney won first place in big block design with her white tiger design,
narrowly edging out her classmate Emily Resch who earned second place with her pig design. Layla Hooshmand earned  first place in the wedge block design competition with a  very complex two-headed snake car.

Concepts of engineering and technology is a CTE (Career and Technology Education) course that uses science, technology, engineering, and math. This project allows kids to use critical thinking to research, design, plan, and build a car. It exposes them to the use of machines and tools while using STEM principles.

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