Mazda brings national STEM education program to Monterey

The big Continental Monterey Grand Prix is taking place this weekend and just ahead of that, Mazda race crews made a pit stop at a local high school to teach students that there’s more racing than just putting the pedal to the metal. Mazda Motorsports raced their way over to Monterey High School to teach the students about S.T.E.M. which stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. Mazda racers said all subjects play an important role when it comes to having a winning race car.

“We spoke to over 25,000 students, and the big importance is we bring the race car kind of as the laboratory to show them that with the stem discipline stuff that they’re learning currently in high school could lead to an awesome career,” said Mazda Motorsport racer, Joel Miller.

So aside from hovering over the Mazda prototype, sophomores and juniors also attended an assembly to learn more about the aerodynamics of the sleek ride.

“We use a rear wing and a fan and on the rear wing and we use tassels to show the air flow. We’ll stand it up and lay it down to show the operations of the rear wing,” said Miller.

The Mazda prototype race car weighs about 2000 pounds, and can get up to 190 mph. The design of the car was all done on a computer. The technology and marketing of Mazda is what interested, Monterey High School, Marie Luna.

“I plan on going to Colorado Springs to and then dedicate my whole career to marketing until I can manage to get to my doctorates degree, so I can become a really professional marketing manager at a race track,” said Luna.

Some of the students said they dream about racing on the track and so getting the chance to talk to a professional driver was a victory for them. The Mazda Motorsports team will compete at their home track at Laguna Seca this Sunday. Racer, Joel Miller said he’s expecting a podium finish.