Celebrating an Almost-Finished Car

With only a week until Shell Eco-marathon, we here at MadSCI ran our car for the first time. Although this is our fourth car, the feeling of accomplishment never seems to dull, and the pride that has stemmed from that has completely invigorated the team. We don’t expect to bury the competition, nor is that the reason any of us do this the first place. Yes, it’s fun to build and race it, but I like to think our group sees past those novelties. We don’t do this for the trophies (we don’t even have any). We don’t do it for the races, nor do we do this for the free t-shirts. We do it for us; to show that we are capable of amazing feats beyond that of worksheets and tests. (See related post: “Spending Spring Break in the Shop.”)

But I think that’s why all the teams do this. We share that drive to not only better ourselves but to shine together as a group; as a family. Come April 7th, when all of the joules have been counted, I think we should all realize that Shell Eco-marathon is more than a competition. It’s a celebration: a celebration of a new generation of student, and of education. Forgive my cliché, but we’re all winners; even if Alerion Supermileage gets 3,000 mpg again.

We’ll see you in Houston.