By Anna-Claire Terry
Staff Reporter

Photo by Anna-Claire Terry Pictured from left to right are Kyle Pinckard, secondary education coordinator, Savanna Johnson,  John Rice, Caleb Thompson, Barrett Whitmen and Brenda Howell.

Photo by Anna-Claire Terry
Pictured from left to right are Kyle Pinckard, secondary education coordinator, Savanna Johnson, John Rice, Caleb Thompson, Barrett Whitmen and Brenda Howell.

The robotics team and members of Technology Student Association (TSA) at Opelika High School received a special gift on Monday from John Rice of John Rice Realty. Rice applied for a grant from the Alabama Resource Conservation and Development Council, which gives Greenpower electric racing cars to only 10 schools in the state. Opelika High School was chosen because it had all the resources and the facility to put the car together and build parts for it. Students from TSA, a career tech student organization, will be racing the cars in competitions with the electrathon team. Brenda Howell, robotics and engineering teacher will be in charge of the team. “Opelika City schools have put the resources down,” Rice said. “I wanted to make sure we had the tools and mechanics to work with. Kyle Pinckard, coordinator of secondary education, said the school already had one car, and adding an extra car will allow more kids the opportunity to get hands-on experience.
“The more kids we have doing hands-on things, the more chances we have to have them thinking about careers and using what we teach in other classes,” Pinckard said. Students who will be racing the car are Barrett Whitman, Savanna Johnson and Caleb Thompson, all OHS 11th graders.