Homeschoolers Take First At Strawberry Festival With Re-Built Engine

A local group of about 15 homeschoolers who meet together for classes in a group called Legacy Homeschool Group has won a first-place blue ribbon and a “Grand Champion” purple ribbon for their display of a car engine they re-built and entered into Plant City’s Florida Strawberry Festival “Neighborhood Youth Village” competition. The award winners were announced on March 3.

The kids, ages 8 to 18, had a few classes learning about cars with Marty LaBarbera, owner of Christian Brothers Automotive on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in New Tampa. At one of those classes, Marty helped the kids take apart an old engine that he had at his shop.

“It was in bad shape and couldn’t be re-used,” LaBarbera explains, “so we spent about three hours taking it completely apart. That’s when the kids started swarming over it like a bunch of ants.”

LaBarbera says that’s when one of the kids said, “Let’s put it back together!” But, LaBarbera told the group that was an extremely ambitious goal. He suggested that they could partially put it back together so it could be used as a tool to help the kids see the parts of the engine and how they move, to gain a better understanding of how a real car engine actually works.

So, the kids met with LaBarbera several more Saturday mornings, cleaning each of the parts and painting them to prepare to put it all back together.

“It was a major task to clean all the grime and goo off that engine,” says LaBarbera, adding that the kids learned the names and the purposes of all the parts as they worked through the project.

Once completed, the students were able to use a small tool to turn the engine over by hand.

“They were so excited about their experience and what they had accomplished,” LaBarbera says.

At that point, it was Legacy Homeschool Group’s coordinator, Cheryl Chew, who suggested that the kids enter their engine into the Strawberry Festival, in the “model” category.

“It had turned out so well,” she says, explaining that she wanted the students to have the opportunity to have their efforts publicly displayed.

LaBarbera also says that the “word has gotten out” about his Saturday morning classes with the Legacy Homeschool Group students, and other local groups — such as Cub Scout packs and Girl Scout troops — have asked him about hands-on learning opportunities for their groups. He’s happy to oblige.

“This is fun for me,” he says. “I’m retired from another career, so I enjoy being able to do things like this.”

And, he got to see the fruits of his labor with the kids, as they were recognized for their efforts with the two ribbons at the Strawberry Festival.

“This is really an experience for them that they can be proud of,” LaBarbera says.

For now, the engine is on display in the lobby at Christian Brothers Auto Service, located at 20303 Trout Creek Dr. For more info, call Christian Brothers of New Tampa, at 991-7007.