Icebox Derby - Kyla Davis Provided 082119_web
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Kyla Davis learns engineering skills through Icebox Derby

Kyla Davis doesn’t have a driver’s license, but that didn’t stop her from racing around a special course in a converted refrigerator! Kyla was one of 30 girls in the ComEd Icebox Derby, a program developed to encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
 

Kyla Davis doesn’t have a driver’s license, but that didn’t stop her from racing around a special course in a converted refrigerator!
  Homewood-Flossmoor High
  School junior Kyla Davis was
  excited to drive the Orange
  Flare team car down the track
  in the ComEd Icebox Derby
  program.
 (Provided photo)
 

Kyla was one of 30 girls in the ComEd Icebox Derby, a program developed to encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Kyla and each of the other participants was awarded a $1,500 scholarship.

“We created this program to encourage young women to step into their power and take ownership of the opportunities that exist in the STEM field,” said Joe Dominguez, CEO of ComEd. 
 
“The world’s biggest challenges involve science, technology, engineering and math, and we will need women scientists and innovators to help solve them. The Icebox Derby is just one way we are creating positive change and exposing youth from our communities to STEM career possibilities,” he added.
 
ComEd regularly picks up old refrigerators and freezers. The company took six of those, converted each to a model race car and encouraged girls to put the finishing touches on the boxes to get the solar-enhanced “vehicles” to race down the track.
 
LaShawn Hunter-Hagerman, Kyla’s mentor and a ComEd employee, encouraged the Homewood-Flossmoor High School junior to file an application for the program, knowing it could stimulate the 16-year-old’s interest in science.
 
During the first week in August, Kyla was part of the Orange Flare team that put all the necessities on the car. Each girl got a tool kit and the team got parts, such as the horn, the gas pedal, the seat, to install on the car to make it ready for its grand reveal on the Aug. 3 race day in Chicago’s Daley Plaza.
 
Kyla said an electronics board gave them signals whenever their wiring got something working.
 
“We worked as a team,” Kyla said. The week-long program gave her “a lot more experience with math and science. When we did challenges, that made us use our minds to solve the problems.”
 
At H-F, Kyla is a member of Project Lead The Way, a national program meant to increase interest in STEM. It focuses on engineering and architecture. This is Kyla’s second year in the program.
 
“Project Lead the Way taught me many things of what it takes to be an engineer — patience, consistency and critical thinking, how to analyze formulas. Project Lead The Way has increased my passion for engineering,” she said.
 
She also was a member of a robotics club in Harvey and now is with Tech Ninjas, the H-F Robotics Club based at the Homewood Science Center.
 
Kyla is the daughter of Janeen and Walter Carter of Flossmoor.
 

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