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NEWS ARCHIVE

EDIBLE CAR CONTEST WINNERS

The competition included an eggplant, cucumber, crispy treats and a salami, but the fastest vehicle in the Edible Car Contest at Illinois Valley Community College was a butternut squash.

For the speed prizes, the edible delights were timed as they rolled down a three-foot ramp. It was a tight race for the prizes, with only two-tenths of a second separating the top five cars.

A number of the vehicles careened off the track, lost wheels, stalled midway, or failed to start rolling – even with a gentle push. A couple encountered problems in the pit – coming apart as their designers carried them to the track.

This Second Annual Edible Car Contest, held Feb. 21 in celebration of National Engineers Week, attracted 37 entries. The cars had to be designed by teams and constructed entirely of items edible to humans.

Students said working with other people and eating the spare parts were two plusses of competing. The purpose of the competition, however, was to demonstrate that math and science, essential to success in engineering, can be fun.

"Designing a car from food requires students to use math and science in a creative framework," said Dorene Perez, Program Director of Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Engineering.

Judging by the animated reactions of the students who crowded the main lobby of the college for the speed trials and prize ceremony, the contest accomplished the fun part.

Students also demonstrated an understanding of the scientific principles behind their designs.

"Getting the axles straight and parallel was our biggest problem," said a student on Team Cobra that took First Place in Creativity and also won for Most Expensive Looking with a body made of salami and wheels of cheese.

The top prize in Design went to Team Ramrod members Jimmy Einhaus, Ricky Cauldaron, Mike Crouch, and Kendra Carey, who used an eggplant for the body and English muffins for wheels.

The winner in Detail was the Snap, Crackle, Pop and Deb team of Deb Ramirez, Kim Warwick, Steven Yerly and Judith Kirchner, who are engineering technology students. They presented their car, with a body constructed of crispy treats, to Perez, their engineering design instructor.

"It was awesome to win," said Warwick. "We’re just freshmen."

The number of cars utilizing crispy treats led the judges to create a special category that was won by Melissa Biccochi, Measha Haszler, and Trisha Richardson who entered under the name of A Little Ricey. They also won a First Place in the Nutrition category for Most Detail.

The speed competition was won by the only faculty/staff team to enter. Mary Smith, Holly Mathews, and Kathy Baker entered under the name of Constructing Edible Transportation Like Art or CETLA, which is the acronym for the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Assessment, a faculty support center at the college. Smith and Mathews are co-directors of the Center.

The cars may have been low tech but the timing for the speed competition was decidedly high tech.

Jim Gibson, Program Director of Electronics, used a programmable logic controller (PLC) to time the speed on the track. The control was connected to a computer running Rockwell Automated software. The timing setup utilized a reflective photo eye at the start and an emitter and receiver photo eye at the finish.

During the speed runs, pieces of cheese, candy, fruit and vegetables fell and flew off the entries forcing Gibson to suspend the speed runs occasionally to clean the electronic components and the track.

One car raced down the ramp without registering a time because its low profile failed to break the beam at the finish. A second speed run was prevented when the vehicle careened off the end of the track and disintegrated. Team members Lacey Strenzel, Tyler Miller and Brandon Scarbeary received a special prize for Flying Under the Radar.

Prizes were in keeping with the edible theme: Olympic-style medals and NASCAR models made of chocolate. Two special prizes were glass bottles shaped like Eagles, the IVCC mascot, and filled with pickled garlic.

Nearly 120 students participated in the competition, which required teams to include at least one female. Expressing delight that over half of the participants were women, Perez said, "Engineering groups and the National Science Foundation are working hard to encourage more young women to enter engineering."

The National Science Foundation provided some funding for the contest through a grant the college received in fall 2005. The grant is supporting activities to attract more students to IVCCs technical programs. The contest was also sponsored by the Making Industry Meaningful in College (MIMIC) project and the Occupational Technology Division at IVCC. Leadership Team students assisted with the activities, and the Student Government Association provided pizza for the participants.

Judges were IVCC Board members Paula Endress and David Mallory, manufacturing professor Tim Bias, life science professor Sue Caley Opsal, and criminal justice professor Rebecca Donna.

Organizers of the event were Perez, Gibson, and communications professor Rose Marie Lynch.

February 2007

To see photos and a complete list of winners