Something to CHEER about!

Compliments to Paul Briercheck

Students complete state of the art fuel cell vehicle

Students to showcase vehicle at Oakland Schools Board of Education meeting
A team of five students enrolled in the General Motors Technical Academy (GMTA) have recently completed a state of the art fuel cell vehicle. On Tuesday, May 23, 2006 at 7 PM the GMTA students will showcase their fuel cell vehicle at the Oakland Schools Board of Education meeting.

GMTA Students Matt Dzurka (12th Grade, Rochester Adams High School, Rochester Hills), Jason Kloss (12th Grade, Rochester Stoney Creek High School, Rochester Hills), Anastisia McKendrick (Bloomfield Hills Andover High School, Bloomfield Hills), Paul Shenkosky (12th Grade, Rochester Stoney Creek High School, Rochester Hills), and Mike Stracke (12th Grade, Rochester Adams High School, Rochester) are members of the Aviner Fuel Cell Research and Design remote control racing team.

The students were presented with the task of designing, building and producing a fully functional remote controlled vehicle powered by hydrogen. Their goal was to create this vehicle for no more than $3,000. Similar projects have not been attempted by high school students.
This project is the first to embrace the goals of Oakland County’s "Emerging Sectors TM" Alternative Energy and Power Generation. The students claim they were also inspired and energized from a speech given by General Motors R&D and Planning chief Larry Burns at the Tokyo International Auto Conference (October 17, 2005) where he stated; "Its Not a Question of If But When for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles."

The vehicle took seven months to research, design and build. The students have tested and validated the vehicle’s performance April 13th and April 27th at Larry’s Performance R/C located in Sterling Heights. The GMTA graduating class is now looking forward to taking the lessons learned in advanced vehicle design /engineering to the next level of engineering education and employment.

For more information, please contact Alethia Barnes, GMTA Instructor, at 248.456.7016.