Usually when someone mentions Madison City Schools, no one really thinks of a racing team. Well, now things have changed, for the green.

Thanks to Siemens and Northrup Grumman, both Bob Jones High School and Discovery Middle School students now have a Green Power Formula 1 racing team. The Green Power program is designed to promote the research and use of sufficient energy, and Green Power has made that practical by designing a race that only involves the use of electric cars.

Both schools were given a racecar kit, which included the frame of the car, along with the essentials to get the car up and going. As everyone knows, stock cars won’t get you anywhere, so now the team will have to start learning aerodynamics and mechanics.

“…dealing with limited resources and having to be creative about how you use those resources and how you make those resources last is something that I see as really, really applicable,” said Mrs. Gaines, the Engineering Academy Head at Bob Jones High School.

The plan, now, is for students to start researching and learning how to use the resources to make them last and work effectively. Students will get access to “industry leading technology, STEM application, technological literacy, and workforce preparation,” according to Mrs. Gaines.

A Northrup Grumman sponsor stated, “The bench of the future engineering industry starts with this.”

The Green Power Racing Team has gone from just a racing team, to a door opening to the future of engineering. Superintendent Dr. Fowler stated, “The biggest change in education in the last few years is application,” emphasizing the practical understanding and experience received from hands-on learning.

The two racing teams received their cars on Tuesday, November 17 and plan on having the car built by January.

Both teams will start racing around April of next year. The Discovery team will be racing here in the United States, but Bob Jones plans on going international, all the way to Rockport, England to race.