Back to school
West Philadelphia High School sits in the middle of one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in Philadelphia. It’s like any other inner-city school in the country–chronically low-performing and persistently dangerous.
“I think it’s a tough place to see large succes
s or a lot of students succeeding at really high levels,” says Simon Hauger, former director of West Philadelphia High School’s Academy of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering–or “Auto” as it’s known at the school–and current director for the X Team.
Despite the difficult environment and low expectations, in 1998 a team of students (known then as the EV Team) pulled the engine from a go-cart, replaced it with an electric engine, and entered it into the Philadelphia Science Fair–a competitive event that West Philly students had never excelled in. To the students’ surprise, they finished second out of 600 entrants.
http://bit.ly/hybridx
Inner-city high school team battles to build $10 million ultimate hybrid car
