Students race to knowledge at Vermont Catholic school's science camp

Published: 2007-07-27

BARRE, Vt. (CNS) -- Fourteen-year-old Ryan Papineau likes to go to Thunder Road Speedbowl to watch the car races and cheer for his favorite drivers. So when he had the chance to attend a "Fast-Track Science Summer Camp," he speedily agreed. "It sounded fun," he said, adding that he likes learning about math, science and race cars. "Racing is huge in Barre," said Pamela Nadeau, a science teacher at Central Vermont Catholic School's St. Monica Campus in Barre, the host of the camp. "I like to go to Thunder Road." Thunder Road Speedbowl is a high-banked quarter-mile asphalt oval located on Quarry Hill in Barre. Stock cars compete weekly on Thursday nights. An interest in racing is not a prerequisite for the camp, but "it can really get you interested in car racing," said 8-year-old Blake Huntington, who will be a fourth-grader in the fall at the St. Monica Campus. The National Science Center based in Augusta, Ga., sponsors summer camps throughout the country focused on racing, and through the weeklong camp participants speed up their understanding of math and science while racing remote-control cars.

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