The 20th annual Edible Car Contest at Illinois Valley Community College saw 207 junior high and high school students race their uniquely crafted, entirely edible vehicles. Representing area schools, participants designed cars using treats like Twinkies, pretzels, and fruit, then put their creations through downhill trials. Putnam County Junior High’s entry, Marshmellow Madness, blazed across the finish line in an impressive 0.88 seconds. Other standout winners included DePue’s Tomator Nator for most nutritious and LaSalle-Peru’s Spongemobile for creativity. Organizers emphasized teamwork and real-world skills, noting that these imaginative projects help shape the workforce problem-solvers of tomorrow.
Students gathered at Illinois Valley Community College to take part in an annual event marking National Engineering Week, a tradition since 2006. In her remarks, Dean of Workforce Development Rebecca Zamora highlighted the vision of founders Dorene Data, Jim Gibson, Sue Caley Opsal, and Rose Marie Lynch, who launched the initiative. “While trophies are exciting, today is really about something bigger: celebrating your hard work, teamwork, creativity and problem-solving skills,” Rebecca Zamora added.
Classification winners were as follows:
Overall/Judges’ Choice – Middle School: Spring Valley JFK’s School Bus; High School: La Salle-Peru High School’s Spongemobile; IVCC student: Chica’s Cupcake, and IVCC Community: Big Wheel Dream
Creativity – La Salle-Peru High’s Spongemobile
Detail – Putnam County Junior High’s Monster Mash
Most Nutritious – DePue Junior High’s Tomator Nator
Sweetest Car – Putnam County Junior High’s Monster Mash
Judges Call – Waltham Junior High’s Bubby
Design – La Salle-Peru High’s UF Orange