HOUSTON -- Middle school students at Houston-area schools are creating college-level gadgets, KPRC Local 2, Your Education Station, reported Monday.

"We had to learn about the solar car history and how to make them," sixth-grader Pedro Weiss said.

Pedro and his peers participated in a Solar Car Physics and Engineering Apprenticeship at Grady Middle School, sponsored by Citizen Schools, a non-profit organization.

"It allows us to expose the children to engineering principles not normally included in the middle school curriculum," Apache Corporation employee and Citizens Schools volunteer Pat Moller said.

Citizen Schools recruited volunteers for this after-school program to teach hands-on classes. "Hopefully we'll get one or two of these kids really excited about engineering and get them to go into that before they graduate," Moller said.

The students were challenged to create racecars powered by solar panels. Each team received a kit of materials and step-by-step instructions. The only difference was the unique flair each team applied to their designs.

"We understand how the sun's energy came to the solar cell. We use solar panels, gears, a motor and wood to build the cars," Weiss said.

After 10 weeks of hard work, students from Revere, Long, Sharpstown and Grady raced their cars across a tennis court.

Eighth-grade student Billawal Ahmed, of Grady Middle School, was the overall winner.