Principals went head to head in a friendly race on Friday night when they raced homemade cars against each other to find the fastest. Principals from Charles Barrett Elementary School and George Mason Elementary School pitted their skills to build the best car, which they raced ahead of the scouts’ annual Pinewood Derby.
Students from Charles Barrett spent weeks ahead of the race designing their cars, taking notes from their science teachers on aerodynamics, friction and shape and building the cars during their lunchtimes. Charles Barrett then had an internal competition ahead of the final race to pick one car made by science students from Mya Akin’s class to represent their school.
“First we raced the boys’ car against the girls’ car in our own school race. The girls won that one and so they went on and pit their car against George Mason’s in the final derby,” Charles Barrett Principal Seth Kennard said.
Students and principals from Charles Barrett and George Mason gathered on Friday night to see who had the faster car. “Our girls won outright,” said Kennard. “It was great that they got to see the outcome of their hard work. They had applied skills from a recent force and motion unit to create the fastest car they could, and then had decorated them with Barrett pride. But more than that, it was just a fun evening and everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves.”
George Mason 4th-grade student Jack Harte made the car raced by his principal Brian Orrenmaa.
This is the sixth year that Charles Barrett and George Mason have pitted their own car designs against each other in an annual derby. The race has become a traditional part of the annual Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby.
