An all-girl team originally based out of East Cobb Middle School recently competed in the Formula 1 in Schools World Championships in Malaysia.

The F1 program encourages scientific, engineering and technological exploration in students with competitive opportunities to design, create and test gas-powered balsa wood miniature race cars. In competition, teams race their cars, powered by a CO2 cartridge, down a 20-meter track.

The team of Anna Awald, Kelly Fitzgerald and Claire McCoy, who now attend Wheeler High School's Science, Technology and Math Magnet program and Sabine Saldanha of Campbell High School's International Baccalaureate program were the second-place USA competitors last year. They advanced to collaborate with a team from Hamburg, Germany in Kuala Lumpur.

The USA-German team, calling itself the HAWKS, competed on a global level with the best of the best from around the world, presenting materials and being interviewed by top-notch judges. They also learned about different countries, met a wide variety of people and made friends from all over the world. They also were interviewed by David Croft, the BBC F1 Commentator ­who was the emcee for the event.

They competed in seven categories: Engineering, verbal presentation, portfolio (written presentation), pit display, scrutineering (technical requirements), car speed and reaction-time racing. They are proud to be ranked 18th in the world.

This experience has made the girls even more committed to engineering and the F1 in Schools program. Their plans are to take all the knowledge and experience they gained and bring it to this year's National Competition to win first place.

The girls made many personal sacrifices to participate in the F1 in Schools program for the past two years. But being part of the F1 in Schools World Championship experience broadened their minds and hearts, and they'll be forever changed as students and world citizens.