Utica Community Schools teams drive success at design competition

Two teams from Utica Community Schools earned top honors at a recent competition that asked students to design or build full scale or mini electric cars.

The Utica Center for Science and Industry and Stevenson High School teams earned a total of five honors at the eighth annual Innovative Vehicle Design (IVD) Performance Challenge on Saturday at Belle Isle.

Hosted by Square One Education Network and supported by Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, the event encourages students to use science, technology, engineering and math to create an innovative project.

The UCSI team earned an overall performance award and the innovation award for a car they enhanced with parts made from a 3D printer. Team members are Ryan Oleski, Brooke Sasinowski, Ross Carrico and Zack Sadowski. They are coached by teacher Scott Spry.

Teams were evaluated on performance, engineering and craftsmanship, design innovation, ambassadorship and presentation. Those taking the top spot in those categories will are awarded a trophy.

The Stevenson team placed second on presentation, third on the oval track and fourth on the figure 8 for their car design. Students Chane Street, Daniel Crosby, Michael Kulpa, Ryan Capshaw, Jesse Shoobridge, Justin Lewis, Michael Maguran, Stefan Milevski, Grant Zuccaro, Dylan Rainko, Andrew Morgan, Kevin Rubba, Michael Carrier, Victor Buzgan, Patrick Bikkuntod, Zarif Ahmed, Klesti Cela, Nicholas Austin and Anthony Zaha comprised the team.

The students are pursuing courses in design engineering CAD, precision machining and welding. They were coached by teachers Mike Garcia, Robert Newmann and Jesse Siress.

The competition featured 22 teams from across Michigan and the Chicago area.