Edmonds Heights K-12 provides classes and resources for homeschooled Edmonds School District students and their parents

A United Kingdom-based design, engineering and project management firm put students in the driver’s seat at Edmonds Heights K-12 School earlier this week by introducing them to the Bloodhound Supersonic Car.

According to a spokesman for Atkins Global, the workshop — designed to bring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to life for students — and is part of an international education initiative focused on the car’s upcoming 1,000-mph world land speed record attempt.

The workshop included hands-on learning for students, who had an opportunity to construct small versions of Bloodhound SSC, a jet-and-rocket powered car designed to travel at 1.3 times the speed of sound and exceed the current speed record of 763 mph.

“Edmonds Heights K-12 is invested in offering a wide-ranging curriculum for our students,” said the school’s principal, Dr. Scott Mauk. “Our school strongly emphasizes STEM and ‘maker’ culture. By offering a variety of problem-solving and design experiences, we empower our students to follow their interests and passions, and choose the learning experiences that work best for them.”

On Wednesday, Jan. 21, Atkins’ chief aerospace engineer Dan Brown introduced the Bloodhound SSC project to a group of 30 students at Edmonds Heights. He explained speed goals and the strategy for attaining them, and the role Atkins plays in supporting the design and analysis of the car.

Students were divided into 15 teams, provided materials, and tasked with building their own balloon-powered versions of the Bloodhound SSC. Each member of the team whose car traveled farthest was awarded a prize of a model airplane.

“Although the balloon-powered cars were fun, their construction helped demonstrate the types of design considerations we encounter as engineers, such as the impact of wheel size and nozzle diameter,” Brown said. “Students applied math and physics concepts they learn in the classroom to actually see how these theories work in real life.”

Bloodhound SSC will make its first attempt at the world land speed record in November 2015 in the Hakskeen Pan desert in Northern Cape, South Africa. Atkins is one of the companies that has worked on elements of the Bloodhound SSC project.

Atkins’ aerospace business in Seattle, along with offices in four other countries, form part of the consultancy’s defense, aerospace, and communications division. Projects include supporting Airbus in North America to fatigue and damage tolerance testing in Germany and the Netherlands.