Drummond High School F1 Race Car Design Advances to National Tournament

F1 racing isn’t a common sport in Montana High Schools, but students from five different schools will be representing the state in Austin, Texas this summer for the F1 in Schools competition. Though five schools progressed to the national tournament, Montana Superintended of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen says students from Drummond deserve high praise.

"A big 'wooohoo' goes out to Drummond High School, they were the overall Grand Champion for the state. What is so cool about this is that last year in Montana we had a school from Harlem that went to the world championship on this. It's all about using science engineering and math skills to put real world scenarios together.

The STEM-focused tournament has students model and create a F-1 race car from design to construction using using Computer-Aided Design. Arntzen says the tournament makes good use of a federal grant.

"We sponsor it through OPI, and it's a 21st Century Grant, it is real exciting to put some federal dollars down on the ground, in the hands of kids, to use real world experiences. The other part of it is, when they go to these championships, people will be looking at them, they're going to be offered scholarships."

The F1 in Schools U.S. National Championships will take place in Austin between June 8th and 10th.