Kathy Ibarra, left, and Katherine Acosta laugh while building a Solar Car. (PRNewsFoto/Smithfield Foods) DENISON, IA UNITED STATES
		Learners to Leaders(TM) student Carlos Valasquez, races a solar car Tuesday. (PRNewsFoto/Smithfield Foods) DENISON, IA UNITED STATES

    Students Race Solar-Energy Cars Built as Part of ISU's Science Bound
       Program During Ceremony Celebrating Advancement to High School

    DENISON, Iowa, May 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Not too long ago, 10 eighth grade
students from Denison Middle School couldn't have imagined that they would
be designing, building and racing solar-powered cars as a class project.

    (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080514/AQW152-a)

    (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080514/AQW152-b)

    But that's exactly what they accomplished during the current school
year, and in the process they have successfully completed the first leg of
their journey as they prepare to someday enter college and earn degrees.
Now, the Denison students are about to begin the next crucial step.

    The eighth graders are participating in Smithfield Foods' Learners to
Leaders(TM) educational initiative and Iowa State University's (ISU)
Science Bound program. As part of the Learners to Leaders/Science Bound
curriculum, the students have been taking classes and engaged in projects
that will prepare them to pursue science- or mathematics-related college
degrees.

    The students and their parents attended a dinner Tuesday night at
Denison High School marking completion of the middle-school portion of
their studies and honoring them for advancing on to the Learners to
Leaders/Science Bound program at Denison High School next fall.

    To help celebrate the occasion Tuesday night, the eighth graders put on
a demonstration of solar-powered mini-cars they created during the past
school year. Competing teams of students took disassembled cars, quickly
put them back together and then raced the cars for a prize.

    The team of Juan Meza, Carlos Valasquez and Andres Casteneda won the
competition when their solar car covered 18 feet in 4.4 seconds. For their
efforts, Meza, Valasquez and Casteneda each won a Learners to Leaders pen
and notepad set.

    "This program has been a fantastic opportunity for my students, largely
because they're learning by doing, which is the best way to learn," said
Collette Huntley, science teacher at Denison Middle School. Huntley and
Kathy Jones are the two teachers assigned to the Learners to
Leaders/Science Bound students.

    "The dinner gave us a chance to kick back, congratulate the students
for what they've accomplished so far, thank their parents for providing
much- needed support and remind the kids that with a lot more hard work
their goal is within reach," Huntley said.

    She pointed to the solar-powered car as an example of what the students
are capable of accomplishing when they apply their talents to lessons
learned in the classroom. The car involved a fairly complex design. Made of
plastic, each car is about six inches square and includes a miniature motor
and solar panel the size of a small calculator, which the class received
from Iowa State Extension Service.

    "It has been a trial-and-error process, and the students have had a lot
of fun designing and redesigning the solar car based on lessons they
learned from building two other cars," Huntley said. "They made their own
decisions during the design process, and they did a far better job of
designing the car than I could have done."

    "This has been such a wonderful experience for my students, and we're
so grateful to Smithfield Foods and Iowa State University for making it
possible," Huntley said. "Many of these students are from low-income
families, and we've had parents thank us and thank us again for giving
their kids the opportunity to get as much education as they can."

    Smithfield Foods' Learners to Leaders program in Denison is a
partnership that includes Farmland Foods, Inc., a Smithfield Foods
independent operating company; the Denison Community School District; and
Iowa State University's Science Bound program. Learners to Leaders is
providing learning opportunities to students who may not otherwise have the
chance to attend college due to academic, economic or social challenges.
Participants include first-generation college-bound students, as well as
low-income and minority students.

    With funding from the nonprofit Smithfield-Luter Foundation, Denison
students will participate in the Science Bound program through 2012. The
program's focus is to equip students during their high school years to
successfully earn science-related college degrees.

    "The goal of the Learners to Leaders/Science Bound alliance is to help
reinforce what we believe is the most critical part of any community's
foundation, the education of its residents," said Christine Eppstein,
director of community affairs at Smithfield Foods.

    "We have always been firm believers in giving back to our communities,
and we can think of no better way than to help these Denison students
benefit from Iowa State's nationally acclaimed Science Bound program,"
Eppstein said. "The goal is to expose them to a wide range of career
possibilities in science, mathematics and technical fields."

    Smithfield Foods is a global food company with operations in 13
countries through wholly-owned subsidiaries and joint ventures.
Headquartered in Smithfield, Va., the company produces more than 50 brands
of pork, beef and turkey products and more than 200 gourmet foods.
Employing more than 57,000 people across the globe, Smithfield Foods is the
world's largest producer and processor of pork and a leader in turkey
processing, cattle feeding and beef processing.

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