"Once we get closer to April, I want to reach out to companies like Mazda-Toyota, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin to look for sponsorships and to also speak with them about our students entering their workforce," Grissim said.
Grissim said he would eventually like to partner with companies like these so his drafting students can get internships.
"Currently, we have a signed (memorandum of understanding) with Lockheed Martin out of Courtland for internships, but it's more for manufacturing," Grissim said. "We don't have anything set up for drafting as of yet. I've not been here long enough."
This is Grissim's first year at Career Academies after teaching workforce development at J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College in Huntsville for 10 years. Grissim has also accumulated 25 years in industry, but this is the first time he has supervised the building of electric-powered cars.
"I've built missiles, space station doors, General Motors steering beams, M1 tank wheels, and much more, but not green-power cars," Grissim said.
Grissim said that students in his drafting class will receive one college credit after completing the class, which is funded by a workforce grant.
In addition to building the custom car, his students are still modifying two electric-powered kit cars they've assembled.
"This, originally, was just a flat panel," Grissim said, pointing to the front dash area of a kit car being modified. "What we're doing is building a foam (body) buck, so when we get all of this laid out, we'll put a layer of fiberglass on it."
Grissim originally considered using carbon fiber instead of fiberglass, but decided it was too costly.
Other Career Academies students from machine tool and welding classes have joined the drafting students to help with the electric cars. They hope to at least have the kit cars ready for a race in Oxford in January.
"What we've done this semester is enhance one of our kit cars that's out there," Grissim said. "We've made a few changes like building fiberglass panels (for the kit cars) and have gone to our weld shop and welded tubes that we've built for the frame of our custom car."
The machine tool technology class modified the front steering components for one kit car, welding students did all fabrication, and the drafting class designed the structure for the custom car as well as modifications for the kit cars.
Green-powered cars use alternative fuel sources, such as electricity, to limit the amount of carbon emissions released in the environment.
Grissim teaches two drafting classes that separate entry level students from experienced students. He said the drafting classes create the design for the whole car.
"This first group of students that I have (now) will be racing next semester," Grissim said. "This year, they are just learning how to design the car and how it works."
The two classes include 28 Austin High students and six Decatur High students.
HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE
Two entry level sophomores from Austin High say they are learning essential skills while building the custom car and want to continue to learn drafting and design after they graduate high school.
"I felt like it was cool to learn how to design parts of the car," said Nigel Carter. "This will help me start a career in the future."
Carter said he plans on attending college and majoring in drafting.
Jose Estrada said he has been "thinking of joining the military because of the free tuition for college. While in the military and college, I hope to continue doing this type of stuff."
Grissim said the majority of his students plan on attending college for drafting.
Austin sophomore Nick Sanders drove one of the kit cars in a race in May and came in second place. The May race was held on the track behind Career Academies and only included students from Career Academies, Decatur Middle, Austin Middle and Austin Junior High while elementary students competed separately.
"It's not about speed but by how many laps you complete," Sanders said. "I don't know how we got second place because our battery died at the last second, but that's OK. We did our best."
Austin Middle finished first with 89 laps and Career Academies followed with 87.
Since the kit car car that Sanders drove will not be available for other students to test drive until Friday, he said he can't predict how well they will do in the Oxford races in January.
Additionally, he's not familiar with the other kit cars' abilities. "But I'll definitely be able to show (students) how to operate the one that I drove."
PREPARING TO COMPETE
Grissim said students may not be finished with the custom car in time for for the January race, "but we will definitely have it complete for our race in April."
Grissim said his long-range plans call for his drafting classes to build a new custom car every year. "It'll probably be a five-year process to get things where we want them to be," he said.
Grissim said it takes about six months to build a custom car from scratch.
The race on Jan. 15 in Oxford will include middle and high school teams from Alabama and other Southeastern states. Four teams consisting of six students will race against each other throughout the day.
Grissim said the April race will be held in Decatur and will feature schools from all over the Southeast.
"We don't know exactly where it will be held in Decatur yet," Grissim said. "We were thinking about Point Mallard."
©2021 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
