The Conrad Foundation's Spirit of Innovation Challenge is an international high school competition.

Last year the EVX Team spent three days at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, DC. It was just us, the GT, and a couple hundd thousand science geeks.  That’s where the IEEE  interviewed Simon Hauger.

The EVX Team had an incredibly busy spring. In April we returned to Watkins Glen to compete in the Green Grand Prix, another great competition for the Team.

Just in case you hadn’t heard, the West Philly Hybrid X Team won another major national competition. Five members of the EVX Team traveled to California in May to present the Team’s work on the Electric Very Light Car at the Conrad Foundation’s Spirit of Innovation Awards.

On Friday we focused our energy on making sure our presentation was good to go. Mr. Boxman helped pump the kids up, and we did a number of run-throughs with simulated question and answer sessions. When the time came to head over to the ballroom for our presentation session, the kids were ready, but nervous.

On Thursday we were granted the rare opportunity to take a guided tour of Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.

It’s 11:36 Pacific Time (almost 3 AM back in Philly), and we just finished up a solid run-through of our presentation.  We all gathered in my room to have an informal practice session.  Our hotel is very low-budget, and in a neighborhood that the kids said resembles Compton, but everyone contributed to a very energetic and supportive practice session.  The students’ speeches are finally getting to the point where they are feeling comfortable and confident.  It is truly remarkable to see how far they have come in the past couple of months.

West Philly High beat another Ivy League University today. Cornell University was among 43 other cars that didn’t make it to the Winner’s Circle at Watkins Glen for the Green Grand Prix. However, EVX GT was there and it looked marvelous. The EVX GT won the 100 mile fuel economy Road Rally, while the Chevy Volt won the 50 mile fuel economy Road Rally. The GT had the best fuel economy of any car in the competition.

West Philly Hybrid X Team member, Brandon Ford, will be sitting in First Lady Michelle Obama’s box tomorrow night for the State of the Union Address. He was invited by President Obama’s Science Advisor. He also gets to visit the White House, meet with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and meet the man who invited him, John Holdren. I know all this because I gave the White House Brandon Ford’s phone number.

“Amazing,” is what Ms. R. said and that just about captures it.