Walk into Room 102 at Stissing Mountain High School and expect your jaw to drop. There, in its metallic splendor, sits the chassis of a racecar, bristling with rivets.
Stissing Mountain is one of seven state schools participating in the Winner’s Circle Project, a holistic STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) program that draws on the world of car racing. The project’s stated goal is to “empower the students not only with skills and experiences through project based learning, but to help guide them in their journey of self-discovery to be the best version of themselves.”
A total of 25 Stissing Mountain students are working on the year-long project. Technical education teacher Jim Benincasa, whose background is in math and engineering, metalworking and woodworking, guides the 17 who are building the racecar, while humanities teacher Jennifer Blackburn, whose degree is in graphic design and who has taught art at the high school as well as family consumer science, leads the eight doing marketing and media.
While the WCP is based in Ithaca and started in central New York, most of the seven schools are in the Hudson Valley. Benincasa first heard about the program last year at a technical education teachers association meeting. Soon after, Principal Chris Boyd also mentioned it to him. They visited participating schools, then applied. The six-month approval process involved visits by the organization to ensure that the school was capable of completing the project.
Once the WCP granted approval, students from Dover High School came to do a presentation, bringing along the racecar built by FDR High School in Hyde Park. About 40 students at Stissing Mountain applied for the program, whose goal is to build the car from scratch starting in September, and race it at Lime Rock, with a professional driver, in May.
Most of the elements for the car arrive in plastic bins, in pieces that have to be diligently assembled. “Some of the kids organize the parts, others put them together,” Benincasa said. “They sorted themselves and found what they do best. They work as a team.”
The students in the marketing and media class are just as busy, Blackburn said: “They designed the logo and slogan, and wrote the mission/vision statement for the project. They’re doing a newsletter, and a commercial, and are posting to social media regularly.”
One of the aspects of the program that both instructors are enthusiastic about is the involvement of community members and businesses. “The Pine Plains Auto Body shop is painting the car for us,” Benincasa said. “And we’re going to tour Wheels of Time.”
There will be a total of six field trips for the 25 students. The latest one was to BMW’s design center headquarters in New Jersey. “They saw the design of the new hydrogen-powered car,” Blackburn said. They also attended a formal dinner and reception there — a first for many of the students.
WCP personnel mentor the students, holding one-on-one discussions about their future plans. One wants an internship with an auto body shop, which is in the works. Benincasa noted that “Internships are not just automotive. They can be with aviation, with law firms.” A student interested in working at Boeing, “will get help with that,” Benincasa said. “How do you quantify that?”
The car must be completed by April, when it will be given a safety check by Alfred State College’s motorsports program. Then a professional driver will race the entry at Lime Rock against those from the other six schools.
The focus in the WCP’s project-based learning is on team-building. At the end of the week. Benincasa asks the students, “Where have you helped someone this week?”
People who would like to share pertinent expertise with the students, or those who want to receive a copy of the newsletter the team is producing, can contact Jennifer Blackburn at j.blackburn@ppcsd.org.
this is truly awesome, great idea and good luck with the project!!
What a great program! Kudos to Mr. Benincasa for bringing it to Pine Plains.
Looks like an update on a 289 Cobra.