P-TECH Freshman visit HVCC
Freshmen in the P-TECH program visited Hudson Valley Community College's TEC-SMART facility on Tuesday, January 31st to participate in the Drive Train Challenge. Students were provided with the following problem statement for their challenge, "Virtually all aspects of the society we currently enjoy rely upon a single source of energy, fossil fuel, which is limited in supply. Transportation is just one aspect of our society that is highly dependent upon this energy source. Our top engineers and scientists are currently working to develop technologies to create energy from readily available renewable sources. However, there is more to our transportation needs than just the fuel source. Vehicles need to be more efficient in their construction and design so that the energy used is efficiently transferred to the mechanical energy of the wheels on the road". Students were tasked with constructing a vehicle that would be powered by one battery and one to two solar cells. The objective was for the vehicle to travel 5 meters in a straight line in the shortest amount of time on the cement floor at TEC-SMART. Each team developed their own design for the challenge involving wheels they created using recycled materials. For more information on the P-TECH program, contact ECHS Program Coordinator, Adrienne Snow, asnow@bscsd.org.