STEM students at a Maryland high school are preparing to compete in the Washington, D.C., Electric Vehicle Grand Prix with a car built in honor of a classmate who was shot and killed last year.
DuVal High School students unveiled the car to a schoolwide round of applause Thursday.
The orange and black car features a roaring tiger — the school’s mascot — and the number 924, which represents the birthday of Jayda Medrano-Moore, who was shot as she left the school. The 16-year-old had a passion for STEM.
“I’m actually glad that we’re doing this, so we’re doing this for her,” one student said.
Prince George’s County Police Chief Malik Aziz said in September that the shooter opened fire after “some type of petty beef” between groups of young people. Medrano-Moore tried to intervene, he said.
Four teenagers have been charged with murder.
The electric vehicle designed and built by 12 students is made of fiberglass and metallic materials and powered by four batteries. It can reach 70 mph.
“It’s been really fun,” sophomore Andrea Osorio said. “We started off with basically like no tools, and just the parts of the car, and as you guys can see, we’ve gotten really far. We’ve got a driving car now.”
Students went to school early and stayed late to see the four-month project through.
“We had to figure out ways to get the car to run,” Andrea said. “There’s regenerative breaking on the car, so we had to figure that all out.”
DuVal is the only team representing Prince George’s County in the grand prix June 1.
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