Anyone who has ever attended the demolition derby event at the Date Festival knows how exciting it is to watch, so imagine the excitement students in Mr. Albert Rodriguez’ advanced automotive class felt when they learned that building two cars to enter into the event would be a class assignment.

Beginning the third week of November and continuing until the second week of February, students rebuilt and installed parts, used cutting torches and welders to modify the frames, and applied paint to the finished cars all the while learning about mechanics and safety.

“It was a really great experience. Students learned a lot, everything from safety to automobile techniques,” says Mr. Rodriguez.

“Auto tech is a hands on program; this [building the derby cars] was a fun and cool way to learn all the different methods and techniques about working on vehicles,” says Junior Isaiah Soliz

How did the student-built cars hold up to the competition? According to Mr. Rodriguez, the first round entry, the black Thunderbird NO.7, misfired during the round and was disqualified; and the second round entry, the orange Cadillac NO. 01, got eliminated during the fourth round.

Despite not placing or winning in the competition, the students say all the hard work still paid off in newly acquired knowledge, fun and pride of accomplishment.

“Auto Tech is a wonderful program for the students. I learned so many things, and I had really good experiences,” says Ruben Lorigo, a junior.

“Actually being in the cars and working on them after every round was fun,” says senior Alfredo Carranza “We needed more money and time to work on the cars and maybe we could have made it further.”

“It was the first year that we participated in the Demolition Derby at the Date Festival so we were all really proud of ourselves. It was a great and fun experience,” says Mr. Rodriguez.