Schools
Whiz Kids: Crompond Students, Future Car Designers
This week we are featuring the winner of a vehicle design competition at Crompond School.
Names: Hunter Embury, Jamison Embury, Paul Macellaro, Alexis Cherciu-Stancov, Jessica O’Reilly
Ages: 10 and 11
School: Crompond School
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Accomplishment:
The team of fifth graders won Crompond/Ford 2020 Challenge car design competition for their version of a concept car, 2020 Ford Route Runner.
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Key to Awesomeness:
At the conclusion of on March 24, the quintet reflected on their car designing process that merited Overall Winner and Best Presentation awards. Here is what the children said:
"We went through a lot of different designs including aerodynamic, big bulky," Paul Macellaro said. "We deliberated on that for a long time. Ultimately what we chose a sleek, futuristic design – a cross between a sports sedan and a mini van."
The futuristic car has 360-degree air bags, drive monitoring system and an auto braking system.
"We tried to have one main focus – safety," Jamison Embury said about the Route Runner. "No matter how cool your car looks, if you don’t have a safe car, there is no point of buying it."
Not only is their car safe, but it's also "green" and energy efficient. The electric-powered car has solar recharging for daytime use, and vegetable oil powered generator for night-time use.
"We decided to have our main [exterior] color green for an engine so clean and efficient," Hunter Embury said.
And how did they come up with the name Route Runner we asked?
"We knew that mothers today are always shuttling their kids from place to place, city to city, county to county, and route to route," Macellaro said. "So why not name it the Route Runner?"
Some features of the car include an option of interior and exterior colors, all wheel steering for parking, and steering wheel controls, Alexis Cherciu-Stacov said.
Students met at least once a week to work on the project and the week of the competition, Jessica O’Reilly said, they met every day to practice until they "got it perfect."
"We [all 36 contestants] are all winners," Macellaro said. "We are all going to the car show [New York International Auto Show]!"
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Nominations for Yorktown Patch’s Whiz Kids can be submitted to Plamena Pesheva plamena@patch.com and Christine An christinean.patch@gmail.com
