NOTÍCIAS

Teamwork, determination, and lots of hands-on activities summarize the routine of the participants in Insper Fox Baja student project. They debuted in the Baja SAE Brazil competition and achieved the 6th place in the Endurance Race – one of the most demanding dynamic events of the competition – and the 13th place in the general classification of the Southeast Region stage, which took place at the end of August in Piracicaba (state of Sao Paulo).

The project has been taking place for a year and counts on 34 Insper students from the Engineering, Business Administration, and Economics programs. They are involved in all stages of the competition, from the off-road vehicle’s design and construction to fundraising and testing, until the competition itself. The Baja SAE Brazil program is a challenge launched to students from all over the country so that they can apply in practice the knowledge acquired in the classroom.

“Participating in the project gave me a notion of the complexity involved in car manufacturing, from technical issues regarding parts and manufacturing costs to understanding the project’s engineering,” says Lucas Cardoso Fontenla, a student in the 6th semester of Mechatronic Engineering. For the student, in addition to the opportunity to put into practice the knowledge learned in the classroom, the project enabled the development of important management skills. “Learning to manage resources, time, teams, and task division, understanding the importance of good planning to achieve goals, and maintaining a good teamwork climate had been important learnings from this project. They contributed to my professional development,” he points out.

The passion for cars was what motivated Ian Szterenzys to join the Fox Baja team. A student in the 4th semester of Business Administration, he was part of the team as a Fundraising manager, one of the team’s support areas. Much more than getting sponsors for carrying out the project, Szterenzys found out about the importance of networking in practice. “I exchanged much information with teams from other schools and saw the importance of building a network of contacts, both to understand better the role of fundraising and to reach out to potential sponsors.”

As Fontenla, Szterenzys also considers that the most significant learning was about the importance of teamwork and of ensuring a good work environment, both internally and externally. “We arrive at the competition thinking that the teams would be extremely competitive, but everyone was very receptive to us, reflecting the race’s climate of cooperation and healthy competition,” the Business Administration student highlights.

Now, Fox Baja is preparing for the national stage of the competition, which will take place in February next year.