Racing the Sun drives STEM career prep for high schoolers
The College of Engineering helps nonprofit offer the go-kart racing program across the state.
University of Arizona mining engineering student Alex Zadro (second from right) celebrates winning the Endurance Award at the 2023 race day for SARSEF Racing the Sun with fellow members of The Thunder Sisters team.
Two years ago, Alex Zadro was part of the first all-female team in the history of Racing the Sun, a yearlong program that engages Arizona high school students in designing, building and racing go-karts. Now a sophomore studying mining engineering at the University of Arizona, Zadro stepped in for this year’s competition to help the Rolling Thunder team program its kart’s speedometer.
“It was really nice to be reached out to, with students saying, ‘Hey, we need you,’” said Zadro, a mining engineering sophomore at the University of Arizona.
Rolling Thunder won two awards at the 2025 RTS Race Day, held in April at the Musselman Honda Circuit in Tucson. The team took home the best documentation award, for its plans and drawings, and the award for earning the most overall points in the standard division, which is for first-time competitors. The program also offers the legacy division for teams building on previous RTS builds and the maker division for experienced teams using original designs. Nine schools from around the state participated.
The Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation administers RTS. The College of Engineering has partnered with SARSEF in STEM outreach since its 1997 launch as a nonprofit. When SARSEF took over RTS from Arizona Tech Parks in 2019, the college continued funding the organization’s Regional Science and Engineering Fair and added the go-kart program to its support.
“The College of Engineering hopes to inspire future engineers by engaging students early and supporting their growth,” said Kelly Simmons-Potter, associate dean of academic affairs. “We’re committed to providing meaningful, hands-on learning experiences to students as they explore educational and career paths.”
Building karts, confidence and competence
Mica Mountain High School’s Road Hogs team prepares to race its electric go-kart in the legacy division. All RTS karts include auxiliary solar power systems and use solar battery charging. Maker division karts are solely solar-powered.
Derek Langley, a Mica Mountain engineering and math teacher, advised Rolling Thunder and the Road Hogs team – which won the best presentation award – this year.
He has coached teams for the past six years at Mica Mountain and a previous school. In 2023, he advised Zadro’s team, The Thunder Sisters.
This year, Langley encouraged members of Rolling Thunder to consult Zadro when they struggled with their kart’s speedometer, which took them two months to code and wire.
Zadro still had pieces of the code from her speedometer, which she shared along with reassurance.
“Getting to talk to them definitely brought me back to that time and being stressed out. But as long as you have your group of people and just a little bit of resources, you can figure it out. And they did,” said Zadro, who first connected with the high school students at the SheTech Explorer Arizona event hosted at the university in March.
The project gave Rolling Thunder member Mia Garcia, a Mica Mountain sophomore, her first experience with coding. She believes the skill will continue to serve her, along with what she learned about teamwork and time management.
“The fact that we won something boosted our confidence in our work,” said Garcia.
Rolling Thunder accepts the 2025 Best Documentation award at race day.
Zadro, too, was introduced to coding through Racing the Sun. The knowledge she gained is helping her succeed in her current engineering classes, she said. Many program participants like Garcia and Zadro start with limited related experience, according to Langley.
“Getting through the problem-solving aspect and overcoming adversity and setbacks really helps them strengthen engineering skills. Once Rolling Thunder overcame those things, I feel like a lightbulb turned on. They were able to shine through, and it was exciting,” he said.
Rolling Thunder accepts the 2025 Best Documentation award at race day.
College of Engineering connections
Langley is also part of the college’s Engineering 102 High School initiative, which gives students in participating Arizona and California schools a head start on their first year as engineering majors. The students earn U of A credit while learning from teachers, like Langley, who have been trained by the college.
Engineering 102 High School graduating honors students complete capstone projects, and some fulfill the requirement by working on a Racing the Sun team, he said.
And the college offers additional connection points with high school students in the program: Past teams have learned from Engineering students at SARSEF’s career day and when testing and racing karts.
Langley also coached a team that worked closely with a group of Engineering seniors completing an Interdisciplinary Capstone project.
“The University of Arizona students who helped us out were phenomenal,” he said. “The students gained a lot, not just in terms of technical skills, but in setting them up for what to expect in the future. It was a really valuable experience.”