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Long Cane Middle School’s Greenpower USA Racing teams competed in their first meet of the season last weekend. The 999 team, comprised of eighth graders, earned the highest presentation score and won the highest overall event score across all levels and divisions. The meet ran for 12 hours on Saturday with each team giving a presentation and competing in the 90-minute race.

Austin Ellison, pit crew chief of the 999 team, said on the past weekend, “It was kind of exciting. We had a few mess-ups, but overall we came back and did better.” The team worked to fix a mishap with driver gloves and a battery clip in the second race. Ellison said, “We would all come back together and work as a team to fix the mistakes and get back on track as fast as we could.”

“We are going to try and get first nationally again like we did the past two years like we did last year.” Nathan Shelton, a driver for the 999 team, said when asked what the team’s goal is for this season.

Throughout the meet, Matthew Graham led the teams as their coach and GreenpowerUSA teacher. This did not go unnoticed by the students. “Mr. Graham, he made sure that we all felt like we knew what we were doing and he just made us all feel like we had a job and he just really helped us like learn what we needed to do and made sure that we were okay and ready,” Gracie Brown, a data manager for the 999 team, said.

The program continues to provide an opportunity for students in Troup County to get hands-on experience in STEM and have fun with it. The GreenpowerUSA teams next meet will be on Dec 4 in Columbus, GA.