Electrathon gives Alabama, Georgia students exposure to engineering
A high school student participates in Electrathon 2016 at Barber Motorsports Park. (Christopher Jones/Alabama NewsCenter)
James Kocsis is thinking about becoming a mechanical engineer.
That ran through his mind as the 11th-grader from Dothan’s Northview High School made a hairpin turn at the famed Barber Motorsports Park in an electric car he helped build.
Kocsis was one of more than 400 students from 35 Alabama and Georgia high schools in the April 4 Electrathon car construction and race program. The students built small electric cars from scratch and raced them, not so much to see who would win, but which cars could endure the longest during two one-hour-long races.
“It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also a great team exercise that helps you work together and solve problems,” said Kocsis, 17, as he watched volunteers unload his team’s car from a trailer. The car conked out not far from the finish line, as did several during the first heat. “I’m considering mechanical engineering, and this is a great learning experience for it.”
Market Specialist Robin White said Alabama Power sponsors Electrathon each year to expose students to real-life engineering and skilled trades. At least 25 company employees helped facilitate the event.
“We want to identify their strengths, interests and goals and align them with a four-year college or technical or trade school program that is the best fit for them,” White said. “As we try to bring more industry to our state, like the car manufacturers we have and the new Airbus plant in Mobile, we want to have an available workforce in these skills so these industries will choose to come to Alabama.”
Industry is already playing a key role in Electrathon. The Michelin tire plant in Dothan dispatched two electrical engineers and one mechanical engineer to help built two electric cars at the Dothan Technology Center, which teaches pre-engineering and technical/trade skills at Dothan High School and Northview.
Michelin mechanical engineer Adam Brisolara helped the Northview students customize a car, which arrived in standard kits for all competing high schools. Brisolara taught them how to use the software program to design the car. He worked in the pit at Electrathon with five Northview students.
“Michelin is really big in volunteering for anything related to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math),” Brisolara said. “If we can get these kids involved and interested in technical and engineering fields, hopefully they will become engineers at Michelin one day.”
Myra Hicks, who teaches pre-engineering at the Dothan Technology Center, said Electrathon does more than help students determine a career path.
“They get life skills from this,” she said, while watching Kocsis and Dustin Casper driving on the track. “They have to work with other people and they have to have commitment. They get skills working with tools. Electrathon gives them skills they can take anywhere.”
High school Electrathon winners were: (first place) Hewitt-Trussville High; (second) Chilton County’s LeCroy Career Technical Center; and (third) Alabaster’s Thompson High.
