Dubai, UAE:  A team of students from Horizon International School in Dubai is preparing to represent the UAE in the upcoming Aramco F1 in Schools 2024 World Finals at Dhahran Expo, Saudi Arabia on November 23-26, 2024. The three-day competition will evaluate each school’s development of an F1 team based on a range of criteria, including design & engineering, project management, and enterprise, as well as their ability to present orally to a panel of industry judges.

Ecolyte, a team of five STEM students from Year 11 and 12 at Horizon International, made history when they won the national finals in the Rookie Category in June 2023, recording the highest ever score in the history of the F1 in Schools program in the UAE. The students were tasked with producing a miniature F1 car, a miniature pit display and a professional portfolio, including engineering and management elements. In addition to awards for engineering, pit display and enterprise, Ecolyte also went home with the Sustainability Award. Under the slogan “Building a Greener Tomorrow, One Watt at a Time”, they created several sustainable initiatives that involved the wider school community.

Fully endorsed by F1, the F1 in Schools competition is designed to introduce students to STEM disciplines such as engineering, automotive design, financial strategy, media proficiency, sustainability, and teamwork. The competition is annual, with the UAE finals taking place at Yas F1 Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Ever since winning the national final, the Ecolyte members have been working towards the World Final competition, which presents a unique opportunity to compete with schools from around the world. The team now hope to elevate their project, develop a better and faster car, improve media coverage and organise a range of exciting new sustainability initiatives. Along their journey to date, Ecolyte have drawn support from a range of local partners, such as LITUS, Adamas Motors, Triskelion, U-Drive, Skriva, Edruption, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and others.

Grace Zanjani, Media and Marketing Engineer and Sofia Riggio, Project Management Engineer, the two youngest members of the team, currently in year 11 said, “We worked very hard for a podium place in the Nationals, and we were absolutely thrilled to win and be able to represent the UAE in the World Finals. The past months our lives, and that of our other team members, have been all about Ecolyte. We all have sacrificed a lot of our free time to present an outstanding project and car. We know the competition will be very tough as usually teams from the UK, Australia and Germany take the top spots on the podium. We are aiming for podium place, and hopefully some additional Awards. But above all, we aspire to make our school community and our sponsors and partners proud.