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Speech class plans derby for charity
By Emma Tocci
Collegian Reporter
Students and
Hillsdale residents will race their 5-ounce, 7-inch wooden cars
around a 30-foot track in a Pinewood Derby held on campus.
The event, planned for Nov. 21,
is organized by the Speech 370 class to raise money for the
local Boy Scout and Girl Scout Troops and to fulfill syllabus
requirements.
The Leadership and Group Dynamics
course, taught this year by Director of Speech Studies Kirstin
Kiledal, requires students to complete a group activity applying
the management and teamwork lessons they learn in the classroom.
While the assignment has remained
the same as long as the major has been offered at Hillsdale,
each class has approached it differently. Students may choose
to coordinate a service project, run a speech seminar at a local
business, or develop a product, machine or invention of their
own.
This year's group, like the majority
of classes in the past, wanted to do the service option, and
they knew they wanted to do something different.
Senior Rachel Chen said the group
wanted to help the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts because some of
the class members had been scouts, and because it was a way
to help the county directly as the groups are losing significant
funding from the United Way.
The six students-Chen, Neal Buchanan,
Jessica Grabowski, Jeff Grana, Colleen McGinness and Sadie Vince-call
themselves Project Six. Choosing the name was, itself, an exercise
in teamwork as the class members established a new identity
as a single unit. Though the decision-making was sometimes rocky,
all of Project Six chose the derby idea Kiledal suggested, and
the team adopted the excitement of Kiledal and Grana, who said
they both keenly recalled troop races.
Kiledal proposed the derby as
a possibility because she remembered the success of a pinewood
derby held in the campus snack bar two years ago by her son's
Cub Scouts troop.
"There were 30 to 40 college-age
men watching and really participating," she said.
She said she heard professors
reminiscing about the races and trophies of the derbies they
participated in as children.
"They were walking down the
halls saying, 'You should have seen [the car I made]….'
and 'I wish I could do it now-knowing what I know now about
how to make it fast,'" Kiledal said.
Part of what attracted the students
to the idea was the interaction between participants, organizers
and spectators. Chen said involving the community and bridging
the gap between town and gown is a major emphasis in the event.
"As a group we just want
to do something to bring the community and the college together,"
she said.
In the days before the races competitors
will construct and decorate their cars in workshops held by
Project Six. Technical director and set designer to the theater
department David Griffiths is opening the theater workroom so
entrants can build and decorate their cars in the days before
the derby.
"It's very simple, so long
as you meet the requirements you can do a lot…put feathers
on the car, paint Greek letters…we're hoping to see a lot
of creativity," Chen said.
There are several books published
on building the fastest car possible and scores of Web sites
offering everything from decals to advice on track financing.
The pinewood derby mania "has
become far more than just a part of the scouting world,"
Kiledal said.
Though boxed-car kits are now
commonly available at stores, the Boy scouts will sell kits
to participants, and racers will pay $7 for a car and for entrance
as a benefit to the Scouts. Members from the leadership class
will be outside Curtiss Dining Hall this week for participants
to sign up.
Posters for the event are on their
way and Vince is talking to local radio station, 92.1 WCSR,
about advertising to the community over the air.
"Our biggest goal is to get
the campus hyped up about this event," Vince said. "It
could really be a lot of fun if people spread the word and come
together for a good cause."
Project Six is also working to
get community businesses to sponsor the event by contributing
money for the cause and prizes for the racers.
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