Teams

Bank on IT

Garage Headquarters: Bloomsberg, PA

Driver: Kirk Marshall

Mechanics: High school students

Nuts and Bolts:

In recent years, Kirk Marshall, a teacher at Pennsylvania’s Bloomsburg Area High School, has led his technology students to capture first place with a human-powered flying machine at Red Bull Flugtag New York, second place at Red Bull Flugtag Cleveland, and fourth place (tantalizingly close to the podium) at the Red Bull Soapbox Race in Providence. “Fourth place was like kissing your grandma before she had time to put in her teeth,” Kirk comments wryly. “The taste of victory was so close, but we ended up as the ‘first loser.’” Now, the kids from Bloomsburg are back – but they’ll have only two weeks to build their racer.

Due to a summertime school renovation, the students won’t be able to begin construction of their design until the first day of classes, August 25. That gives them just 12 days – at most – for the build. But don’t underestimate these talented teens. Besides their success in prior Red Bull contests, Bloomsburg students won the national BattleBots IQ robot competition two years in a row and have acquired numerous other national awards for robot design. Plus they’ve been five-time national champions in the F1 in Schools engineering competition, additionally placing first and third on the international level. “Students can succeed if given the chance,” Kirk asserts. “Never think kids can’t accomplish as much as the adult teams – if you do, we’re going to pass right on by you on our way to the podium!”