Mill Creek Elementary racing team wins unique national championship

One of the coolest stories I have heard all month so far happened at Madison’s Mill Creek Elementary School. A group of 4th and 5th grade students formed a Greenpower Racing team and ended up winning a national championship!

This is a pretty unique honor and a really interesting story:

What is Greenpower Racing?

This looks like so much fun and I wish this kind of thing was around when I was in school. I mean, what kid doesn’t want to build and race their own car?

Greenpower USA is a premier STEM program that provides students in grades 4 through 12 a hands-on, project-based learning experience, and provides the kids a customizable, standards-aligned curriculum; car kits and parts; access to premiere race events; and training and technical support. 

The Greenpower Electric Car Challenge was founded in 1999 in the United Kingdom by the Greenpower Education Trust with the goal of enhancing the teaching and learning of STEM through a highly engaging and inspirational design-build-race competition.

With an emphasis on sustainable, multi-disciplinary, and cross-curricular applied-learning, the Greenpower Challenge has categories covering the entire range of education.

More than 100 elementary school teams from across the country compete in Greenpower Racing.

Here’s a cool video showing what one of these races is like:

Mill Creek Elementary’s Greenpower Racing Team

Mill Creek Elementary School’s Greenpower Racing team consists of 14 students, which competed four times during the 2022-23 season.

Each competition includes three driving races and a presentation. The races include the slalom, which zigzags between cones to get to a finish line; a drag race; and a circuit race around an oval. The presentation is judged based upon specific requirements for each individual contest.

Mill Creek Elementary won a total of 17 races this season. And although the school has competed for six years, it has never won first or second place in any race before this year.

“These students have worked so well together since the fall. They come to practice ready to go, listen to each other’s feedback and have cheered each other along the entire season. This incredible group of students and their supportive families have made this season one to remember. It’s been fun watching the students grow in their confidence and skills since day one.”

Jacqueline Smith, Mill Creek Elementary fifth grade STEM teacher

After the last race of the season, which took place in late April, the team with the most points wins the national championship. National rankings are determined by a team’s top scores from three competitions. Schools in the top 10 nationally were from Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.

Meet the team

The Mill Creek Elementary School Greenpower Racing team:

5th graders

• Clark Asher
• Eli Brown
• Sophia Brown
• Devansh Goyal
• Lillian McFadden
• Evelyn Mustell
• Julius Whitehorn

4th graders

• Savannah Barnard
• Tyler Barnard
• Harrison Bock
• Austin Brown
• Peter Gosier
• Jaiden Lawrence
• Jack Nivens

Anyone interested in supporting the Goblin division National Champions, Mill Creek Elementary, through a tax-deductible donation, should contact Jacqueline Smith, 256-679-7919 or jksmith@madisoncity.k12.al.us.

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