The Race is On for Local Students Competing in Malaysia
A student team based at Southeast High School in Bradenton, Fla., is competing this week in the Formula One (F1) in Schools World Finals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The team is representing the United States and competing against student teams from 18 countries in the rigorous competition, which began on Monday, Sept. 19.
Lockheed Martin is a proud sponsor of the local team, called the Unitus Racing Team, which has spent hundreds of hours preparing for the competition. Team members include Amanda Clark, a Southeast High senior; Tony Griffin and Mark Nanney, two recent Southeast High graduates who today attend colleges in Florida; and Niemann Pest, a sophomore at a high school in Virginia.
The team has designed and manufactured identical miniature, CO2-powered, balsa wood F1 race cars that will compete on a 65-foot track. The team members also will be judged on a 10-minute verbal presentation, 30-minute engineering interview, and the design and construction of a large team display.
The F1 in Schools program inspires students to study math, science and engineering concepts; hone skills such as marketing and finance; and demonstrate leadership and the ability to work as a team.
"The initiative mirrors the real world of Formula One racing, with the team’s professionalism extending to the pit display, uniforms, merchandise and commercial funding, with judges allocating marks for each of these aspects of the program,” said United Kingdom’s Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman of F1 in Schools. “These young students represent the next generation of entrepreneurs and engineers."
Last fall, the local F1 team won the World Finals in Singapore. Tony Griffin, who graduated from Southeast High and now is a freshman majoring in graphic design at State College of Florida, says his years of participation in F1 in Schools have helped him gain graphic design skills and an understanding of his chosen career path. Griffin designed the team’s logo, pit display and all of the team’s printed materials for the competition.
“I want to pursue a career in graphic design, and this competition has given me hands-on design experience and real world experience talking to printers,” said Griffin, the day before traveling to Malaysia. “In middle school I had an interest in graphics, but I didn’t know much about the field. Through the F1 team, I’ve done a lot of graphic design. Now I know I enjoy it and want to pursue it as a career.”
Students focused on engineering the miniature cars say the same thing: That their participation in F1 in Schools helped solidify their technical career choices.
Lockheed Martin helps fund the Unitus Racing Team’s participation in F1 in Schools because the Corporation is committed to providing students with hands-on learning opportunities, particularly in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
"These types of competitions light sparks in students and help get them interested in meaningful careers," said Gary Cambre, communications manager for Lockheed Martin’s Tallevast, Fla., office. "Programs like F1 in Schools help students realize that the sky’s the limit if they work hard and put their mind to achievement."
Margi Nanney, public information officer for the School District of Manatee County, of which Southeast High School is a part, said Lockheed Martin’s sponsorship has been “the centerpiece for everything that this team and a lot of other technical students at Southeast High School have been able to realize.”
"The bottom line is that Lockheed Martin’s support of technical programs that happen after school provides hands-on activities that the students get excited about outside of the traditional classroom setting,” Nanney said.
"The partnership is a perfect fit," she added. "It enables our students to have incredible technical experiences, and it meets the Corporation’s mission of having a positive impact on students in the community."
You can follow the team’s progress in Malaysia at: