Chicago area young women race in ComEd's 2nd annual EV Rally

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Dozens of young women from the Chicago area put their pedals to the metal in ComEd's second annual EV Rally.

The program educates young women about a variety of STEM career opportunities.

For the past few days the women were divided into teams, building electric go karts to race.

"I am looking forward to continuing these relationships with the girls and bringing the skills to my everyday life," said Hannah Roark. "I want to go into the STEM field, so being able to take what I've learned and apply it to my life and use these skills forever."

The ComEd EV Rally is designed to expose the next generation to the clean energy workforce, while simultaneously helping bridge the gender gap in STEM.

"Engineering has so many fields. You can have any skill. There so many opportunities for everybody," said Sonia Bravo.

The participants worked with female ComEd mentors, and cheering them on before the big race was Marvel actress and star of "The Babysitter's Club" Xochitl Gomez.

"It's really special to have a group where there are people who have the same interest as you," she said.

The winning team was the Lilac Lasers, but it put everyone one step closer to achieving their goal of breaking into the STEM world.

All of the young women received a $2,000 scholarship upon completion of the program.