Students Design the Car of the Future

What will the drivers of the future want in the cars of the future? Heated cup holders, changeable grilles and "Tuxedo Black" interiors.

Those were just a few of the design features students at Crompond School students proposed for the Ford Motor Company. They presented their ideas at the Crompond/Ford 2020 Challenge car design competition held March 24.

The innovative designers were fourth- and fifth-grade students who participated in the collaborative program by Crompond School and Ford. There were 36 contestants divided into seven teams.

The prize of trip to New York International Auto Show was announced by Moray Callum, the executive director of Ford Americas Design and a judge of the competition.

Callum said although the judges intended to pick two teams for the prize, they opted to award the prize to all seven teams. Each team received a “best in category” recognition, such as Best Consumer Insight.

“Every team had an expertise in something. The presentation showed that young kids are still interested in cars. We really love the energy the kids showed tonight,” said Callum.

The Route Runner Team was declared the overall winner by judge Jonathan Szczupak, a designer of Ford North American Design Team. In February, Szczupak flew in from Detroit to teach students design concepts and perspectives.

Anna Fazio, enrichment specialist at the school, shared with the audience that the criteria of design, engineering, presentation, product knowledge, and customer insight determined the selection of the winning team. The team of three judges included Richie D’Andrea, the General Manager of Park Ford Lincoln Mercury dealership in Mahopac.

Since January, the students have been working on designing interior and exterior of cars using computer programs as well as traditional drawing tools then creating clay models for three-dimensional views.

The facilitators of this multi-disciplinary project were Crompond teachers including Charles Brooks (special education), Beth Crescimanno (gifted and talented), Jim Flanagan (ESL), and Karen Richards (art).

The competing teams and their awards were:

Route Runner (Overall Winner, Best Presentation) – Hunter Embury, Jamison Embury, Paul Macellaro, Alexis Cherciu-Stancov, Jessica O’Reilly

Revolution (Best Vehicle Personization) – William O’Connor, Keegan O’Connor, Jessica Recher, Meaghan Brady, Maddison Spiegel

Destiny (Best Futuristic Content) – Connor Koelsch, Connor Thomas, John Ahearn, Casey Huppert-Fishman, Dana Huppert-Fishman

Husker (Best Overall Campaign) – Chris Frey, Michael Broder, Jessica Gerdis, Emma Bilton, Hannah Bilton

Shockwave (Best Teamwork Experience) – Kaitlyn Nuebel, Rory O’Brien, John Floryshak, Emma Georger, Caitlin O’Donnell

NRG (Best Consumer Insight) – Amelia Duffy, Mark Hurley, Arianna Tolosi, Josh Ziluck, Colin Hannah

Fantasy (Best Innovative Technology) – Reese Andrews, Julia Boettigheimer, Tim Woodard, Diane Yang, Pranav Burugula, Roopa Duvvi

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Return to Patch next week, when the Route Runner team will be featured in the week’s Whiz Kids column.

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