On Friday, March 8, Mayor Ken Welch welcomed a group of 75 local middle schoolers to the University Student Center at USF St. Petersburg. The field trip, planned by the City of St. Pete, was a chance for students to explore and experience the science, technology, engineering, and math that go hand in hand with the Firestone Grand Prix. The “Team Accelerate Grand Prix Stem Day” was attended by students from Bay Point Middle School, John Hopkins Middle School, and Thurgood Marshall Middle School.
To start things off, Mayor Ken Welch asked students if they knew how much money the Grand Prix brought into the city’s economy. Guesses topped out at about $2 million. The group was wowed when the mayor revealed that every day of the event, it creates $20 million in the local economy. That’s combined $61 million total over the entire weekend. He asked about all the jobs and moving pieces it takes to put together the race and explained that every one of these are opportunities that these students could one day hold.
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A lap around the USF St. Pete STEM Track
Three pit stops were set up and each school participated by moving around the “track” to complete each one. The first stop at the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library focused on four different mini-stations. They built catapults, crafted circuit boards, and checked out the university’s state-of-the-art 3D printing lab.
Stop #2 at the College of Education Heller Hall, included a design competition using 3D modeling software where students worked in small teams to create a new Grand Prix logo. Each student also tried a virtual reality simulation of the Firestone Grand Prix.
The third pit stop was a bit of a college experience! Students ate lunch in “The Nest” Dining Hall and got a mini tour where they got to see what a college dorm room looks like.
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In the afternoon, students walked through the USF St. Pete campus towards the race grounds for the Grand Prix Experience (earplugs included). They took a tour of the festival and got to see a few practice laps from the IMSA VP Racing Sports Car Challenge and the INDY NXT series.
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