Benjineers Advance To National Competition
5:00 a.m. 50 degrees outside. No sunlight in sight.
This is the start of a new Benjineers competition. The students Boarded the bus and were off 120 miles south to the Miami-Homestead International Speedway. Here the top teams (14 in total) in the state were competing for their last shot at Nationals. After a poor showing over the weekend the Benjineers had scrambled all week to get ready for this competition.
Our business team was short a few key members but one student stood strong and presented all alone. The Data Driven Design presentation went off after practicing this past weekend and getting some tips on what to talk about. Our team display and graphic design both went like clockwork.
The racing is usually what breaks our team and so today we entered with the mindset of the tortious. Slow and steady wins the race? Usual courses are held indoors with plastic barriers that cars can jump and not be damaged. This course was made of 4x4 wood and any car that smashed into the sides was damaged greatly. Our slow and steady approach allowed us minimal wall hits. Our first race we came in with the 5th fastest lap. The second race we finished 3rd with 9 laps in 10 minutes. Only losing at the last 2 laps due to overheating. And finally on the last race we scored 29 laps in 30 minutes just getting beat at the end because one of our wheels exploded and we had to finish the race with only 3 tires on our car. The last event of the day was a drag race where we raced through the brackets and beat each team to place in 2nd.
At the end of the day we were unsure if we placed high enough in each category to make the podium. But the final results showed otherwise.
Data Driven Design - 3rd Place
Team Identity - 2nd Place
Business - 1st Place
Racing - 2nd Place
OVERALL - 1st Place
Congratulations to all that made this happen. We now move on to Nationals in Troy, New York at the end of April.
Main Address & Lower/Middle School
11000 Ellison Wilson RoadNorth Palm Beach, FL 33408
Ph: 561.626.3747
A premier PK3 - Grade 12 independent, coeducational day school with campuses in North Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens. Since 1960, The Benjamin School has provided a challenging college preparatory education to a diverse student body in a structured, nurturing community environment.