Sequoyah Students Racing Toward World Championships in Germany!

“Our local Sequoyah School high school Grand Prix team will enjoy competing in Germany this August for the Hydrogen Grand Prix (H2GP) international championship!” Sequoyah’s H2GP club is composed of students who design, code, test, fabricate and race 1:20 scale, hydrogen fueled cars. Last year, Sequoyah’s team placed 1st nationally and 4th place globally. So a win this year at nationals is clearly within their grasp!

Their instructor, Abraham Orozco, launched the program at Sequoyah just a few years ago: “I serve as a knowledge base,” adds Abraham. “The students are designing and working on the cars, spending time after school practicing, and pushing innovation. They are in charge of the program and its success.”

The team competing in Germany is composed of 12 Sequoyah high school students who have spent the past year working to optimize these small-scale, energy efficient racing machines. This program allows students to experience real-life engineering as they push the custom designed cars to maximize performance over a 4-hour race, testing endurance of the cars as well as the students’ design and driving team.

These students recognize that teamwork and commitment are key to bringing home the win. “I think when you are with your team, collaborating and passing on ideas, it makes it really easy to be successful,” says student engineer Kenya. “Abraham stays late every day to help us because he sees our passion on this project and wants us to succeed.” This perspective and active mentorship is critical to building the grit, perseverance, and positive mindset required to succeed in this arena, as well in our competitive world.

Last year the H2GP World Final saw 40 top student-led teams qualify from a program that included over 4,000 students from hundreds of schools. We wish our young Sequoyah School innovators the best as they work to take home this international win! This club is one of many experiences that Sequoyah school offers to foster real world understanding, and prepares students to be successful outside of the classroom. For questions about this club and other innovation programs at Sequoyah, please contact Dr. Carolyn Stirling at cstirling@sequoyahschool.org.

Sequoyah School, 301 N. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 441-2076 or visit https://sequoyahschool.org/.