Brighten Academy Outshines Field At Gravity Games

DOUGLASVILLE, GA – Saturday, 60 student-led teams from schools across the state of Georgia competed in the state’s 5th Annual GravityGames, a gravity-only car race competition sponsored by Google, Georgia Tech and the City of Douglasville. This year’s Gravity Games was the largest in the event’s five-year history.

Villa Rica’s Brighten Academy swept the competition, winning all four divisions it raced in — Stock, Super Stock, Scottie Stock and Engineered. In its dominant showing, the Brighten Academy Phoenix stacked up a 15-1 record against the rest of the field.

More than a thousand spectators attended the Games to watch students race the cars they’ve spent months building.

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In addition to the four traditional Gravity Games categories — Stock, Super Stock, Scottie Stock and Engineered) — this year’s event featured an all-new Autonomous (or self-driving) division.

The event also included Science Street, an interactive, hands-on exhibit featuring STEM activities and presentations from area organizations, including the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, the Severe Storms Research Center, the Kids Drone Zone and Georgia Power.

“Gravity Games is such an important — and fun — event for Georgia’s students, providing hundreds of middle and high schoolers experiential learning opportunities in STEM subjects,” Russell Bonds, Google’s data facilities manager said.

“The Gravity Games has become a fall staple for Google, Georgia Tech and the City of Douglasville, and it’s exciting to watch the competition grow every year,” Bonds said. “In addition to serving as a family-fun weekend activity for the community, our ultimate hope is that the event inspires future scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians whose ideas and innovations our world so critically needs.”

2018 Georgia Gravity Games Results

Stock Class (200-pound limit):

1. Brighten Academy
2. Mirror Lake Elementary

Super Stock Class (240-pound limit):

1. Brighten Academy
2. Brighten Academy

Scottie Stock Class (255-pound limit):

1. Brighten Academy
2. Chapel Hill High School

Engineered Class:

1. Brighten Academy
2. Google Douglas County

Autonomous Class:

1. Chapel Hill High School

The Georgia Gravity Games will return to downtown Douglasville for its sixth edition next fall. For more information, visit www.gagravitygames.com.

Photo courtesy Gravity Games