‘It is nerve-wracking’: More than 50 high school teams compete in engineering competition at Kettering University

FLINT, MI -- More than fifty Michigan high school teams gathered at Kettering University this week to compete in the 14th annual Innovative Vehicle Design Challenge. High school students competed in four different categories, all pertaining to engineering and re-engineering vehicles: Autonomous Innovative Vehicle Design Challenge, Mini Innovative Vehicle Design Challenge, V2X Innovative Vehicle Design and the Full-Scale Innovative Vehicle Design Challenge. The university has an educational model that differs from most, as students learn and work with university partners in 11-week periods. “Since I was a toddler, I always loved RC cars,” Jaxon Chandler, a sixth-grader at Flint Cultural Center Academy said. “I always wanted to go fast and try to break the laws of physics.”Max Cromf, another sixth-grader at Flint Cultural Center Academy, said the competition can be “nerve-wracking” since you helped engineer the vehicle.