Willowbrook Project Lead The Way, Principles of Engineering students compete in Science Buddies Rubber Band Car Challenge

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Students in Willowbrook Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher Joshua Zwart’s Project Lead The Way, Principles of Engineering course recently competed in the Science Buddies Rubber Band Car Challenge, and two teams earned top honors.

The event took place throughout March, and participants were tasked with building a car that travelled as far as possible – using only a rubber band. Judging was based on a scoring matrix that determined points earned for distance and points lost for the amount of materials used.

Willowbrook sophomores Salman Siddiqi and Aaron Mendoza (team A-Aron) finished in 2nd place, and sophomore Seth Rodrigues (team Singleton) finished in 3rd place. Both teams’ cars travelled more than 88 feet. As a result of their strong performances, those students are featured on the Science Buddies website at https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Phys_p125/physics/rubber-band-powered-car-challenge.

“I was impressed by my students’ perseverance and creativity in building a variety of prototypes,” Zwart said. “I also would like to thank CTE Department Head Mary Barney and CTE Department Secretary Ambar Aguirre for providing materials and support with this engineering challenge.”

To view full results from the event, go to https://www.sciencebuddies.org/engineering-challenge/2024.