Rotary Club of Sun Lakes Completes 2023 AWIM Competitions
CUSD Fulton Elementary School team members set off their racing Gravity Cruiser.
Dr. Honora Norton, RCSL Public Image Chair
The Rotary Club of Sun Lakes (RCSL) supported the A World in Motion (AWIM) program, which was created by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Foundation to get elementary students excited about math and science in support of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).
Three different competitions were held at Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) Fulton Elementary School. Fulton Elementary School worked in design teams to build, test, and race model balloon-powered JetToy Cars and Gravity Cruiser Vehicles. The JetToy Cars were required to meet specific criteria to travel far and go fast. Jet propulsion, friction, air resistance, and design were the core scientific concepts students explored in this challenge. The Gravity Cruiser Vehicles’ design concepts included forces, Newton’s Laws of Motion, gravity, and engineering design.
The 12 classroom student teams at CUSD Fulton and Carlson Elementary Schools built and tested their JetToy Cars (5th grade) and Gravity Cruisers (6th grade) in preparation to compete for first, second, and third place in their respective class and a final race for the school’s first-place winner. In late December 2023, each competing class (over 600 students) raced in the preliminaries where the top three teams in each class were awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals. Following the class races, the first-place winners raced for the Final Top Race Award. The medals were presented by RCSL/AWIM volunteers.
The RCSL AWIM Committee included Rotarians/AWIM volunteers Don Robins, Gary Kay, Bill Giessing, Stan Klein, Bill Klein, Ana Logan, Bill Crump, Val Crump, and Debbie Bailey and ASU Polytechnic students. The committee members, who are residents of San Tan Valley, Sun Lakes, Gilbert, and Chandler, were on site for weeks at the school to assist the students with the design, building, and testing of their vehicles. Parents attended, and several other RCSL members and spouses assisted at the competitions.
RCSL Club President Victoria Flatley extended appreciation to the volunteers and to the school’s faculty for letting RCSL bring the AWIM program to Fulton and Carlson Elementary Schools again. All those involved noted that it is always a wonderful experience for the students. Updated school award plaques will be presented to the schools for placement in the school trophy bookcase for everyone to enjoy throughout the school year.
For more information about RCSL, see www.sunlakesrotary.com.
RCSL Honors Veterans
RCSL Rotarians and friends Bill Crump, Carrie Hughes, Ed Anderson, Val Crump, Neil Cutler, and Gary Magao, along with (not pictured) Stan Kaufman and his family members, joined in the holiday ceremony to honor our veterans.
Dr. Honora Norton, RCSL Public Image Director
Rotary Club of Sun Lakes (RCSL) members, families, and friends joined many other community volunteers at the Chandler Valley of the Sun Cemetery and Mortuary Wreaths Across America program on Dec. 16, to place wreaths to remember and honor our veterans. Nearly 4,000 remembrance wreaths were laid on the graves of our country’s fallen heroes, with the act of saying the name of each and every veteran aloud.