Chancellor of Public Schools, Dr. Frances Haithcock joined Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp Aug. 25 to announce that Florida is one of 25 states nationwide participating in the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Real World Design Challenge (RWDC). The annual event provides high school students in grades nine through 12 the opportunity to work on real-world engineering challenges in a team format. The RWDC presents student teams with a challenge that confronts one of the nation’s leading industries; this year the focus is on aeronautics and energy usage.

Participating students will have a chance to apply the lessons of the classroom to the technical problems that are being faced in the workplace, and utilize professional quality computer-aided design software to develop their solutions. Teachers participating in the challenge are also able to obtain professional development opportunities as well as software engineering tools valued at nearly $1 million.

To learn more about the Real World Design Challenge, visit http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/RWDC/index.html. Districts and schools interested in participating may contact Sally Sanders with the Florida Department of Education at sally.sanders@fldoe.org.