Last week, seven Racing the Sun teams across Arizona participated in the Racing the Sun (RTS) Career Day. The heart of RTS involves teams of high schoolers designing, building, and racing their very own solar and electric go-karts. Throughout the nine-month experience, students get hands-on experience in engineering concepts and develop interpersonal, technical, and workforce skills. Beyond gaining experience with hands-on learning, RTS sets the foundation for careers in engineering for students in multiple ways. One of them is through Career Day, where students get to tour facilities and engage in industry-level activities and workshops with different engineering-focused companies around the state of Arizona.
In Tucson, students toured facilities and met with industry professionals at the University of Arizona Tech Park, Howmet Aerospace, Excel Mechanical Inc., University of Arizona Engineering Design Center, Creative Mechanics, and Musselman Honda Circuit.
At Howmet Aerospace, students got a tour of the factory floor (after donning proper PPE such as safety glasses and steel-toe shoes) and got to see firsthand how small parts such as fastening systems for aerospace are made.
Career Day was also held in Phoenix for teams more centrally located in Arizona. Students visited the ASU Ira. A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and Rosendin, where students practiced installing their own electrical outlet.
Racing the Sun is one of Arizona’s premier programs giving students diverse hands-on learning in engineering. SARSEF believes that through programs like these, high school students can gain valuable critical thinking and problem solving skills even if they don’t end up becoming an engineer in their future.
Join in on the fun at the RTS Race Day on April 25th! Cheer on teams as they race their solar go-karts and engage in hands-on engineering activities from exhibitors. Learn more about RTS and Race Day