Natural History Magazine | Partner Highlight

Partner Highlight

July-August 2008

Seeing a Dream

Written by Jennifer Boxer

Seeing a dream inspired me to want to compete for the X PRIZE. —Kenny Polk-Jones

It’s just the fact that our Earth is in danger that made me want to help our community and do something about what’s going on. —Sekou Kamara

I’m proud of how much we’ve inspired people to take action, to recycle, to turn off their lights once in a while. I’m proud to see that they’re interested in what we’re doing and who we are. —Anita Davidson

The following story is contributed by The Saint Louis Science Center, one of Natural History magazine’s Museum Partners. Members of any of our partner organizations receive Natural History as a benefit of their museum membership. To see a list of the participating institutions and links to their Web sites, click here.

The Saint Louis Science Center is a three-building complex (the main building, the Montgomery Bank Exploradome, and the James S. McDonnell Planetarium) located in St. Louis, Missouri. It features more than 700 hands-on exhibits. In the Science Center galleries you can visit a life-sized animated Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops in the Ecology and Environment Galleries, unravel the mysteries of genetics in DNA Zone, climb in a giant kaleidoscope in the Human Adventure Galleries, play a laser harp or create a "virtual fish" in Cyberville, explore the science of engineering in Structures, cross over the interstate and watch the cars go by on the Bridge, visit the new Flight! Gallery in the tunnel between the main building and the Planetarium, and enjoy innovative live Amazing Science Demonstrations.

In addition, the 11,000-square-foot Science Park outside the McDonnell Planetarium includes not only seating areas but also outdoor exhibits that let you experiment with the properties of sound, motion, and light. These exhibits include the Roller Coaster Gravity Race, Friction Slide, Color Maze, Whisper Dishes, Gears, Echo Tube, Giant Kaleidoscope, and Prizms. For further information, visit the Center’s Web site, www.slsc.org.

On March 20, 2008, the competition began for the ten million dollar Progressive Automotive X PRIZE. The goal of the prize is “to inspire a new generation of viable, super-efficient vehicles that help break our addiction to oil and stem the effects of climate change.” Seventy-three teams have already entered the competition. As with the other X PRIZEs,

Courtney Brooks and Kevin Griffin

the list of competitors is impressive, international, and intimidating. But in this new group, one team stands out: the West Philly Hybrid X Team, or, as they call themselves, the EVX Team. They are the only high school group in the competition.

Courtney Brooks and Kevin Griffin, two teenagers from the Youth Exploring Science (YES) program at the Saint Louis Science Center, heard about those teens in Philadelphia and were curious. They sent interview questions to the EVX Team and began a dialogue that both groups plan to continue by email throughout the competition.

“Is it hard being the only teen group competing against all those adults?” Courtney Brooks asks.

“Yes, it is,” replies Jesse Jones. “And it’s even harder because we’re from an inner city school.”

Sakira Harris describes her neighborhood: “Every morning kids in West Philadelphia have to walk by fields of trash because people are not mindful of other citizens who live in the area. Parents would never want to see their children become bad citizens, but in a child’s learning years, what they see is what they learn. West Philadelphia High School has been known to be a terrible school to attend during the past years. But it could be that just by walking past fields of trash, young people become discouraged and don’t care about their environment.”

The West Philly Hybrid X Team

“Everybody thinks we’re not really going to amount to anything. So we’re just going to prove them wrong,” continues Jones.

“We proved it before in the previous competitions that we won,” adds Justin West.

In both 2005 and 2006, the EVX Team won the Tour de Sol—a competition that showcases advanced-technology, low-carbon-emission vehicles—with their hybrid entry, the K-1 Attack.

Samantha Wright has just one word for the K-1 Attack: Awesome! “It has everything. It’s a two-seater convertible hybrid car that goes from zero to sixty in under four seconds. It’s environmentally friendly and it’s easy on the eyes. Everybody who sees that car wants to buy that car.”

“But hybrid cars are usually odd looking,” says Kevin Griffin. “How do you make your cars look appealing to all types of drivers?”

“Teenagers have a good idea of what people will like,” explains Azeem Hill. “We’re very optimistic and we consider other people’s opinions. We also have a lot of car maniacs in our school who can help with the design.”

The EVX Team reinvented the hybrid vehicle—from a bland econo-box to a fast and earth-friendly piece of automotive art. The team’s mission is to provide a powerful example of how urban young people can impact climate change and create important roles for themselves in the new green economy. The EVX Team is an official contender for the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE. Their new vehicle will be a true flex fuel plug-in hybrid that will burn diesel and biodiesel and have a state-of-the-art electric motor and battery pack. It will exceed the 100 mpg requirement of the competition without sacrificing style, safety, or affordability. To find out more, visit www.evxteam.org.

Youth Exploring Science (YES) is a nationally recognized teen program of the Saint Louis Science Center. The YES program works with 150 underserved teenagers throughout the course of their high school career, providing them with a work-based, inquiry learning environment that focuses on science, mathematics, and technology. To find out more, visit Youth Exploring Science.

“People see the K-1 Attack and they think it’s a Lotus or a Lamborghini. It looks like something famous people drive.” Lawrence Jones-Mahoney is confident: “We don’t have a problem with making a car that’s nice looking. We’re creative young people who know what we like. And we know what young people like that also appeals to older people. We know what kind of car people will want because we are the people who are going to be buying these cars soon.”

“How are you going to create a hybrid car that’s affordable?” asks Brooks.

Davidson’s idea is “to use factories inside the city. If we don’t outsource production, we can keep prices lower.”

“We don’t have all those extra costs that the car companies have,” adds Wright, “so we don’t have to pass extra costs on to consumers.”

“How do you plan on making your car fuel efficient while speedy?” asks Griffin.

“We’re going to reduce the weight of the items inside the car—the batteries and such—and make the car a parallel drive so it’s going to be fuel efficient and light,” Kamara explains. “And we will use biodiesel fuels.”

“Our car will be a hybrid using a sophisticated electric motor and biofuels. To make the car speedy, the electric motor and the biofuels will kick in at the same time so that the two motors are both working during acceleration,” adds Marquia Baylor.

“Our team hopes to bring to pass a hybrid vehicle that will get 100 miles per gallon,” says Polk-Jones, but to him it means far more than that. “Our car builds hope for us and for our community. We hope to change air quality where we live. We hope to globally impact what vehicles of the future will look like.”

“I’m very proud of being a member of the EVX Team and standing up for all the young people who are told they can’t do anything,” Hill concludes.

Thank you for your questions. We hope we answered them well enough for you to get a basic idea of what is going on with our team. —Marquia Baylor

We’re going to be changing the world in the near future and we hope all you guys are supporting us. —Jacques Wells

Special thanks to Ann Cohen of the West Philadelphia High School Academy for Automotive and Mechanical Engineering, Cynthia Graville-Smith of the Saint Louis Science Center, and Cristin Lindsay of the X PRIZE Foundation for making this article possible.