Larsen Motorsports Kicks Off Virtual Field Trip Initiative

Larsen Motorsports is helping to ensure homebound students keep their minds fired up, just like the flame-blasting jet dragsters the Florida Tech partner is known for.

Working from their equipment and display-filled facility at Florida Tech’s Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Design in Palm Bay, Larsen Motorsports owners Chris and Elaine Larsen and their team, including several Florida Tech students and alumni, have begun producing videos and worksheets highlighting the STEM-based work involved in operating a business based around jet-powered vehicles.

“There is a lot of science all around you and we are able to take the science that’s in our race shop and apply it what these students are learning in the classroom,” Elaine Larsen said. “We are able to engage the students in a new way. They need to be engaged, they need to be challenged.”

These virtual field trips kicked off with Chris Larsen’s extensive tour of the Larsen Motorsports facility. The new one will feature NASA astronaut and Florida Tech executive Winston Scott speaking about his experience on multiple space shuttle missions, on space walks and how he built and achieved his remarkable career. 

“It is important for us to utilize this time in the best way and be able to go out and reach these kids in Brevard County and across America and give them something that is relevant,” Elaine Larsen told Spectrum New 13’s Greg Pallone. “One of them could be the next Winston Scott.”

Future editions of the virtual field trips will center on other STEM topics such as computer numeric controlled machining, engines and high-tech fabrication. Once completed, the virtual field trips will be uploaded to the Larsen Motorsports YouTube channel.

For more on this program, visit www.blazingtrails.info.

Spectrum News 13’s story on Larsen Motorsports is available to view here, through May 5.