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On Tuesday, the annual SAE A World In Motion (AWIM) program brought students from schools in both Georgia and Alabama together for a competition at the Columbus Civic Center and was sponsored by Kia Georgia.

The task for the fifth graders in attendance was to create a balloon powered JetToy vehicle.

The JetToy cars had meet specific performance criteria while being measured for distance, accuracy and creativity.  

The commitment from Kia Georgia provides educational opportunities and inspiration alike for students by participating in the hands-on competition.  

Students utilized the AWIM curriculum which included teaching concepts on jet propulsion, friction, air resistance and design to help them build an optimal JetToy race car for competition.  In addition to reinforcing important STEM concepts in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, students also developed essential 21st Century workforce skills such as communication, collaboration and problem solving as part of their learning experience.  

CCSD Superintendent Dr. Casey Chambley applauded the efforts submitted in the competition by fifth graders from Chambers County.  

Chambley highlighted that these students are learning the necessary skills to help them be successful in the future workforce of tomorrow.  

CCSD STEAM Inspire Academy Teacher and sponsor, Seth Stehouwer said it was exciting to see tomorrow’s engineers at work designing their JetToy entries.  

The JetToy curriculum charges students with a challenge to provide a variety of interesting designs for a new line of balloon-powered vehicles to be comprised by their design team.

Team entries from Chambers County included 32 fifth graders from Eastside Elementary School, Fairfax Elementary School and Huguley Elementary School.  Eastside Elementary School’s fifth graders were sponsored by one of their teachers, Sandra Adkins, Fairfax fifth grade teacher, David Strickland sponsored his school’s team, and Huguley Elementary School Teacher Rusty Yates sponsored the fifth graders from HES. 

Award winning teams from Huguley Elementary School placed first and second overall in the distance and time competition.