Student ingenuity

Two future engineers from Cape Girardeau Central High School will travel to Huntsville, Ala., this week to participate in the 18th annual NASA Great Moonbuggy Race.

Lars Monia and Mary Dohogne, both seniors at the high school, have spent many hours working to perfect their pedal-powered moonbuggy. The two along with students in instructor Collin Sheridan's Project Lead the Way course and others in design and welding classes at the Career and Technology Center partnered in constructing this year's entry.

The weekend's event showcases years of hard work by high school and college students who are challenged to design, build and race moonbuggies. Parameters for the event are established, simulating similar challenges faced by astronauts in the late 1960s.

To see Monia and Dohogne ride their moonbuggy and explain some of the technical details behind the project, go to semissourian.com to watch a short video.

It's thrilling to see local high school students participate in events like the one this weekend. Challenging students to creatively come up with solutions to technical issues, such as the moonbuggy, is a brilliant proposition.

This project will surely benefit Monia, Dohogne and the other students involved as they go forward in their education and careers.