May 12, 2009 8:41 am US/Eastern
West Philly Students May Design Car Of The Future
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
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A group of students at West Philadelphia High School are among over 100 teams vying to design the hybrid car of the future.
CBS
It's not everyday a member of the President's cabinet stops by your school, but EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson recently honored a group of West Philadelphia High School students helping to build a greener future.
This West Philly Hybrid X Team is one of over 100 teams from 11
countries vying for the X prize, an international competition aimed at
designing and building a fuel efficient car that can get 100 miles per
gallon and can eventually be marketed and sold.
"The president has said there's going to be a green economy and a green environment and this is the intersection of both and these kids are focused on it right now," said Jackson.
West Philadelphia High is only one of two high schools competing to build the car of the future.
"Kids think outside the box all the time, and when you take that imagination and couple that with folks who believe in them and bring in the resources, amazing things happen," said Simon Hauger, team director.
While they might seem like underdogs, competing against multi-million dollar corporations, they're no stranger to success, taking first place on the national tour de sol race in 2002, 2005 and 2006.
"The previous car of the future K1 hybrid attack came from West Philadelphia High School, we're gonna do it again!" said student Jacques Wells.
The winner walks away, actually drives away with $10 million, but students say it's not the prize, but the fact their car could be the car of the future.
"You're competing with teams from India, and your cars could be sold all across the world," said student Anita Davidson.
A recent rundown of the X-Prize competition in Popular Mechanics ranks the students at West Philly High in the top ten, proving the really are on the fast track to fame.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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