CPS students meet NASCAR pros to learn about engineering careers
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Nearly 500 Chicago Public Schools students got quite the cool opportunity at the Field Museum of Natural History Tuesday.
NASCAR held a STEAM Fest, as they called it - giving kids the opportunity to work closely with NASCAR driver Daniel Suarez and others associated with NASCAR, to learn about engineering career opportunities.
This came ahead of the first Chicago Street Race the first week of July.
"We are using the race coming up that we have here in Chicago on the street course as an excuse to be able to do these kind of things," Suarez said. "We have a lot of people working in the race that come from STEAM, so it will be amazing to know one day that little Q&A that I was having with them could turn out to be into an engineer."
Students also got to compete in a NASCAR-themed challenge for free tickets to Chicago race.
CPS Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez and NASCAR Chicago Street Race Julie Giese were also among those in attendance for the event.
STEM, of course, stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEAM adds the arts to the acronym.