By Jacob Bembry
Greene Publishing, Inc.
Students are invited to Madison County Central School on Thursday, June 21, from 10-11 a.m. to see an electric car designed and built by students from MINDDRIVE.
MINDDRIVE is an educational program that teaches at-risk urban high school teens about automotive design and contemporary communication through hands-on work.
According to their website (www.minddrive.org): The automotive class works together to “build prototype high-efficiency alternative fuel plug-in electric vehicles designed to drive efficiently. The communication class teaches students how to write, present, photograph, video, construct and manage web pages and use social media channels.”
The class created an electric plug-in vehicle in August 2010. The car achieved between a 300 and 440-mile per gallon equivalent. Students have built three functioning cars over the last three years.
There are currently 18 students in MINDDRIVE from five urban high schools in Kansas City, Mo. They work on a one-to-one ratio with mentors who are engineers, designers, automotive specialists and other people from various vocations.
Currently, the class is conducting a coast-to-coast experiment, traveling from the West Coast to the East Coast. Their projected time in Madison to charge the batteries is expected to be from 10-11 a.m. on June 21.
The intent at this time, according to Sam Stalnaker, with the Madison County School District, is to be in Madison for one-and-a-half to two hours for a question and answer period. Students will gather around the car and learn about non-traditional energy.
“We believe this is a wonderful opportunity for youngsters in your community involved in math, science or various creative pursuits to share in a remarkable experience,” said Jim Huntington, with MINDDRIVE.
