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Home > About Us > Corporate Citizenship > | |||||||
| San Antonio Creates Tomorrow's Engineers September 2002
When MITRE was asked by the Northside Independent School District Partnerships Office to establish a school-business partnership with Rayburn Middle School in San Antonio six years ago, MITRE San Antonio enthusiastically said "Yes!" The company agreed to provide technology and curriculum development support, one-on-one mentors, a business representative to their school advisory team, and an enriched mentor program. Bobby Blount, Clarence Huff, and Fernando Galdos led the enriched mentorship program, basing it on the Outreach Program that Bobby helped develop several years earlier in the DC area. MITRE employees met with the students and it was decided to build remote, solar race car vehicles, which officially began the Solar Race Car Races in Texas. Now, under MITRE's guidance, junior-sized Mario Andretti's can combine a love of fast cars with the science and technology to make them run. The Sixth Annual City Public Service Solar Texas Race Car Event was held May 12, 2002, at Northside Athletic Stadium. Over 300 elementary and middle school students participated, with 100 race cars from Houston, Austin, McAllen, and San Antonio. Provided with a solar panel and motor, students applied their academic and creativity skills to design, build and test their vehicles. Their performance was judged in two categories: speed (fastest car to travel 20 meters) and creativity. The San Antonio staff supported this effort in many aspects. Lisa Moczygemba, Ron Rhoads, Kit Howell, Rafael Garcia and Bobby served as mentors for various elementary and middle schools while they were designing and building the vehicles. Other staff including Sandra Velenzuela, Sheila Laris, Tim Farias, Jayne Williams, Willie Pope, and Pam Rhoads and their spouses helped plan and execute the race itself. Help Desk support was provided and Lisa Moczygemba obtained corporate contributions (goody-bags) for all of the participants. The staff worked closely together to make sure the children received full support. For example, if one staff was unable to make a mentoring session, another volunteer stepped forward. Everyone was willing to help out during the weekend and after work time. For the children, the program provided them an opportunity to work on teams to solve a real-life scientific and engineering problem. For the San Antonio volunteers, Bobby says, "We feel it completes our MITRE role. We provide technical support to programs of national interests through our MITRE work program and also get to provide support to our most valued local resource, our children. What could be better?"
Page last updated: May 21, 2003 | Top of page |
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