May 2, 2012— A team of students from Elizabethtown Area Middle School recently claimed first place in the regional F1 in Schools Competition. The team, know as Infinitum, is comprised of tenth grader Brian Rupp, and eighth graders Makayla Schaar and Sarah Sellers. At the finals, they won the first place for the high school division and grand champion for being the best overall team at the competition.

The students met every Monday and Thursday after school to prepare for the F1 in Schools PA Regional Finals, which were held at the SAE World Headquarters in Warrendale, PA in March. They are now qualified to compete in the F1 in Schools National Finals, which will be at the Michigan International Speedway on May 11 and 12, 2012.

F1 in Schools aims to help change perceptions of engineering, science and technology by creating a fun and exciting learning environment for young people to develop an informed view about careers in Mathematics, Engineering, Science and Technology. Students are given a brief to design a model compressed powered F1 Car of the future using CAD/CAM. Cars are then manufactured on a CNC machine. Each team of between three and six students, brings together their work to present to a judging panel with a verbal and written presentation to support their model car, which is raced on a specially designed test track. Teams are judged on their final car design, engineering development, pit display, teamwork and verbal presentation. The teams compete at regional, national and world levels.

This is the second consecutive year in which a team from Elizabethtown placed first at the regional finals. Last year, the Ninjas won First Middle School Team at the F1 in Schools PA Regional Finals. From there, they went on to become the 2011 F1 in Schools USA National Champions and come in 16th in the 2011 F1 in Schools World Finals. The Ninjas were a team of seventh graders Garrett Jenkins, Brian McMinn, and Kalyssa Pottgeiser.

The team would like to thank their business partners Thaddeus Stevens College, Wood Carving by Terry, and Elizabethtown Area Sporting Goods and their sponsors Felty and Co. and Elizabethtown Chapter of the Business and Professional Womens’ Club for their support.