Not many people would expect kids to be so proficient in building. Building anything requires planning, sketching and gathering of materials.

The building process is no big deal, however, for our Inlet Grove Pre-Engineering/Pre-Architecture Academy students.

The academy is filled with talented kids who sketch, build and design. The students in the academy are constantly focused on the goal of innovation.

In February they were assigned by their instructor, Todd Morey, the task of building elastic-band cars. The goal that Morey said he wanted the students to achieve was, “solving a problem using different materials. He wanted “to challenge them to see who can make their car the fastest.”

All of the rubber-band cars had different materials and different looks.

“I decided to use Popsicle sticks for the frame,” said Andrew Sandoval, a senior in the Pre-Engineering Academy. “I used smaller wheels for the front so my car could have more grip, and bigger wheels for the back so the rubber band could stretch more.”

Some students wanted a certain look. Juan Carlos Vasquez-Lopez, a senior in the academy, said, “I built my car in three hours, creating it to look like a jet, using cardboard, a rubber band and bottle caps to make it the longest, fastest and best car out of everyone.”

Other students had inspiration for their car’s look. “I was inspired by a YouTube video called ‘GrandadIsAnOldMan,’ which was a design of a CD car,” said Osagaboro Samad, another academy senior. “So I used CD gamer disks for my wheels, three rubber bands and cardboard.”

It’s fascinating to see the youth construct these innovations with household materials. Mr. Morey’s talented and motivated students created cars with a range of materials and a vivid vision to make their models come to life. These kids are the future and if they can create a rubber-band car out of simple household materials, there’s no telling what they can create in due time.