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November 12, 2009

WRJH Tech Ed students win soap box derby competition

November 12, 2009 — When you take a group of eager junior high students, and put them with enthusiastic community volunteers, the result is a winning combination.

That proved true for the tech ed students of David Isenbart at Will Rogers Junior High, when he matched them with several volunteers from the manufacturing community. Their soap box derby car was the winning car - blowing away the competition- at the Sand Springs Soap Box Derby Race.

“It was so much fun for the kids, and the parents,” said Isenbart.

This was the second year the junior high participated and Isenbart noted that they learned a lot from last year's experience.

“Let's just say we weren't very good last year,” Isenbart said.

In actuality, they went from having the slowest time last year, to the fastest time this year. It was the education and persistence of this group, along with the help of some technical experts that assured success the second time around.

The technical “expertise” came in the form of several volunteers who took an interest in the kids and their project.

One of the volunteers, Kevin Frank, an engineer for American Airlines, saw a video on You Tube of the car from last year's team.

“He called me and said he thought he could help us out and that he'd be interested in teaching the kids the principles of physics and the reasons why last year's car wasn't very fast.”

The tips weren't from an overzealous engineer, but from a man who competed in the National Soap Box Derby Ultralite Division, where he raced against NASA engineers, and set a new world record.“We were fortunate to have someone with so much knowledge take the time to share it with our kids,” Isenbart said.

The students surprised Isenbart by offering to work in the evenings and during weekends.

The students designed the car on the computer, then made the body of Styrofoam, applied fiberglass to the shape, then “dug” the inside out, put vinyl on and painted it. All of the bodywork was done in class and all of the kids in the class participated.

Help from community volunteers came in the way of machine work, and painting. Volunteers, in addition to Frank, included Gary James, Derek Fitzgerald and Dale Jones.

“I can't tell those guys thank you enough,” said Isenbart.

Most of the cars in the race were built by company engineers, who did the fabrication at their facilities. The Will Rogers Junior High students were proud of the fact that they built the entire body of their car themselves.

“The kids learned the different formulas for rubber - which has to do with physics - and have a bearing on the performance. You lose energy if your tires bounce so it's critical to get the most efficiency possible from them,” Isenbart said.

Isenbart said he learned as much as the kids did from the experience and is certain the entry from WRJH will get better each year.

“I'll be able to teach them better now that I have gone through this experience.”

The students agreed they learned valuable lessons in aerodynamics, carpentry, and teamwork.

Andrew Lambert, a member of the pit crew, thought their team would just be racing other kids their age.

“I didn't think we were going to win, there were so many adults there and it was a bigger deal than I thought.”

“The pit crew was fun but stressful because you had to be fast. I recommend it to any student, it was a good experience and taught us how to work together,” Lambert said.

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Riley Westfall, an 8th grader and the driver of the winning race said, “I was nervous because I wasn't sure how we would do. It was great to beat the kids that won last year.”

When asked how he was chosen to be the driver he responded, “I was the biggest kid that could still fit in the car.”

Isenbart said his favorite saying the day of the race was from spectators who said, “Oh my gosh, did you see that red car from Claremore?”

“I am so proud of the kids,” Isenbart said.

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