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CHARLOTTE -- A new thrill ride at Carowinds is taking STEM education to new heights and students get a behind-the scenes look at the park's newest attraction.

Carowind's newest thrill ride is creating a lot of buzz.

Towering 301 feet above the ground, Windseeker is the tallest structure ever built at Carowinds, designed to give riders the sensation of flying. Now, students are getting a behind-the-scenes look at how it works.

Students got a virtual test ride of Windseeker during Carowinds' Engineering Day, learning all aspects of the ride's mechanics and all stages of a typical project.

“You show it to them on paper and it looks like one thing but when it's all assembled and up in the air, it's something totally different. When they can get on it and ride it, it's even better,” Jamie Gaffney, director of maintenance and construction

Park engineers said a lot more work goes into the park's attractions than meets the eye.

So they challenged the teens to create a master plan for the development of Carowinds' recently purchased 61-acre property.

Elmuzamil Suliman's group drafted the winning proposal.

It has fields for sports and a winter park area on the outside and there's an indoor area too,” said Suliman.

The idea netted his school $500 dollars and a display of the plan at the park.

“We started working on it as a class. I guess I just got lucky,” said Dimitriy Gutuleac, a Butler High school student.

Most importantly, engineers say the project gets students' wheels turning, taking STEM education to new heights.