Red Hook High School welcomed the leadership team behind the Winners Circle Project on Thursday for a presentation to students detailing how the immersive auto racing educational program works.
The Red Hook Central School District is planning to implement Winners Circle at the high school next school year, with funding for the program likely to be included in its annual budget proposal put before residents in May.
Under the program, high school students form an auto racing organization through their work in three separate classes that entail building a Shelby Cobra sports car from scratch, using a pre-provided kit; marketing the team through graphic design, social media and other channels; and handling the business aspects of the team.
Students also receive career and business pathways coaching and field trips that include career exposure experiences and networking. As a whole, the team competes against other school districts, not only in how well they can build a car, but how well they can market it and build a plan for success. Each year, up to 35 students will be able to take part across the three classes.
Winners Circle Founder and Executive Director Pius Mawejje Kayiira led the presentation, which also included other members of the non-profit organization’s leadership team who would be working directly with the students: Program Enrichment Coordinator Matteo Lundgren; Master Tech Director Mark Dougherty; Visual Communications Director Matteo Banfo; and two recent alumni of the program from Roy C. Ketcham who now are working with the program as coaches for using the racing simulator and social media marketing, Cody Schmitt and Hayden Maloney. While, between them, all aspects of the program were discussed, the overarching theme of the presentation was the importance of being a good teammate and the program’s objective to cultivate those behaviors to set students up for their professional futures regardless of their chosen field of work.
“Good people is what this is all about,” Kayiira said. “I know that we talk about a car, and the car is really good, but I have failed you as an educator if I have not prepared you to be successful in life. And, in life, you’re on so many different teams. Some of you are on good teams that are filled with good people.”
Afterward, students all had the opportunity to see one of the cars, built at Franklin D. Roosevelt High School’s program, up close, and approach members of the Winners Circle team directly to ask questions and express interest in joining.
Red Hook would become the eighth school to implement the Winners Circle Project. A version of Thursday’s presentation will be a part of the next Board of Education meeting on Feb. 19 as the district works toward finalizing its 2026-27 budget proposal.
Entry to the program is roughly $150,000, though around $88,500 of that would be reimbursed by state aid. The kit to build the car is roughly $50,000; districts recoup most of by auctioning off the car at the end of the program cycle and they can use the money to purchase the next year’s kit. The actual cost of the program each year, Principal Dr. Kyle Roddey estimates, is roughly $71,000. The program would not require the high school to hire additional staff.
“The impact this is going to have on our whole building, and the community as a whole, is going to be very positive,” Roddey told students. “Our goal is for this program to be a part of the fabric of what we do here for many years to come.”