Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A group of excited fifth graders spent the morning building their first smart cars at West Point Elementary School Friday morning. Guided by a team of experts from Hyundai Mobis, the students got their first taste of engineering for the Mobis Junior Engineering Event. 

For the second year in a row, Mobis partnered with the elementary school to try their hand at building a toy-sized smart car from the ground up. Once built, the students got a chance to see how a smart car can stop before hitting an obstacle. 

At the end of the event, they got to keep their car and a Junior Engineering badge as a keepsake. 

WPES Principal Keneithia Cook said the event is a good opportunity to help spark an interest for engineering in students that may one day become the leaders at Mobis or another manufacturing company. 

Once he finished helping students race their vehicles, Jacob Holcomb, General Administration Specialist for Hyundai Mobis Georgia, said the event is an opportunity to show kids what they do a Mobis. Many of the elements in the smart car kits are also in everyday cars.

He said he hopes students will leave the event with a deeper interest in STEM programs like Greenpower when they get into high school.

Holcomb said he has seen the recognition in students’ eyes when the build seems to click for them. The exercise even gave them the confidence to help with their classmates by the end, he said.

“We’re always looking to reach out to the community,” he said, adding that he hopes to expand the event to other local schools next year.