SparkShop is a nonprofit which provides small engineering challenges to schools around Chicago. Sparkshop's mission of educating and instilling a love of STEM to young kids aligned perfectly with our social sustainability goals. In partnership with SparkShop, we created an introductory kit for STEM Racing. Recognizing the challenges we faced when starting our journey, we wanted to make the process easier and more accessible for others. Our goal was to lower the barrier to entry for new teams, particularly those from underrepresented communities, by sharing our experience. 

We identified that energy consumption during pit display operation at competitions is a significant source of CO₂ emissions. To support our net-positive emissions goal, we implemented Aeros Energy, a software solution that targets and shuts down non-critical applications running on the pit display to reduce energy usage. Through testing, we found this approach improved power efficiency by approximately 30%.