Local businesses help students design fuel-efficient cars

Five Northwest suburban businesses donated $800 to help fund Wheeling High School's high-mileage vehicle program.

The high-mileage vehicles are part of a Wisconsin-based competition that allows students to design and build a single-passenger vehicle with the goal of obtaining the highest fuel economy possible. Funding is an essential part of the program because new vehicles are engineered and manufactured from scratch each year.

Seniors Mandeep Kaur and Kyle Hall, and sophomore Erica Herin, led the initiative to reach out to business owners to discuss the program's purpose and the manufacturing, engineering and design skills students gain in the process.

Impressed with the students' passion and knowledge, the businesses donated a total of $800, money that will go toward car parts and car framing materials for future high-mileage vehicles. Businesses that donated include X-Treme Transports, Motr Grafx, LLC, SPC Specialty Print Communication, Bear Construction and Optimum Health Clinic.

Using skills and theories they've learned in their Computer-Integrated-Manufacturing and Advanced Machining classes, students spend hours in and out of the classroom designing and building high-mileage vehicles from scratch. The vehicles are then brought up to Road America in Wisconsin and tested on a professional track for performance, safety and efficiency.

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