GOLDEN BEAR STRONG

A dispatch from the coalfields of West Virginia describes the unique set of challenges faced by the Baja SAE team at West Virginia University Institute of Technology.

WEST VIRGINIANS HAVE ALWAYS persevered in times of hardship. The state is currently in an economic depression, particularly in the southern coalfields region, a place where funding for a Baja team is scarce. But West Virginians have always had pride, determination, and gratitude for the things we have. That heart and grit is something that the SAE Baja team at West Virginia University Institute of Technology uses in the shop each and every day.

WVU Tech is a school nestled deep in the Kanawha Valley, right in the heart of the coalfields. Of our 1,200 students, 25 are members of the WVU Tech chapter of SAE's Baja and Aero Design teams. The team faces new challenges as the end of the school year fast approaches. Our school will close its campus in Montgomery after 127 years and move to Beckley, W.Va.-about 40 miles to the southeast. Only one major school has ever moved campuses before. They did it in 10 years, while we will be doing it in two. We have already had to adapt our schedule around the move.