Rubber Band Car Competition
July 27, 2018 Langston Hughes Middle School, Reston, VA
Ladies and Gentlemen, start your rubber band cars. . . .
The CM Merritt Foundation has partnered with the Reston Teen Center to serve as positive role models while fostering a love of STEM. Imagine a partnership of engineers and other motivated adults volunteering in their community to lead teams of boys and girls in the application of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). That is exactly what happened when the Reston Teen Center (part of Fairfax County’s Teen Center Youth Organization) held a “Rubber Band Car Competition”.
The event was led by Al Luna and supported by several Northrop Grumman Innovation System’s employees, and Bill and Marcia Merritt of the CM Merritt Foundation. The project was designed to keep the teens engaged, support their educational development, and develop critical social skills through working in a team environment with schedules and other requirements to adhere to, and in the end, the car that went the furthest in the shortest amount of time was the winner.
A primary Foundation goal is to attract more young girls and minorities to STEM education and careers. This was in full display as the middle-schoolers were tasked with designing, building and testing a car manufactured of a few supplies, including cardboard, a rubber band, a wooden shaft, two compact discs, tape, play doh, paper clip and virtually nothing else. Each team was tasked with a list of procedures which included designing, building, testing, refining, and retesting the cars to determine which would go the furthest in relieving the potential energy stored in the rubber band which was wrapped around the car’s “axle”.
The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience. In fact, Bill stated that “Candice, the Foundation’s namesake, would be so very happy and proud of each and every one of the kids that participated.” The Foundation thanks the Reston Teen Center and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems volunteers for providing the resources for this fun activity and sharing in the opportunity to educate our youth about STEM.
