Mr. Thomas is a friendly public speaker who shared with us his evolving tale of his car building program at his school. He works with kids who are often seen as those who do not aspire to any large degree to go to college and often are from homes that label them as "at-risk".

The goal of a given class is to research, design, build, and even race a small electric-powered vehicle. It is clear that team-work and commitment on the part of students is a necessity.

Mr. Thomas noted that he does not even receive funding from the school district. He looks to sponsors, such as Schwinn ( Who donates the tires for the car. ) to fund these projects. The kids have donated racing uniforms that are theirs to keep at the end of the year.

Admittedly, he says, "To start such an endeavor is time consuming and you need to knock on a lot of doors to get involvement". Once the machinery is up and running however, the results are impressive. Like many teachers, sometimes the equipment is just not there, so a creative approach is needed. His wind tunnel, for example, is a tub of dry ice and a large shop fan.

He noted that it is not the performance of the car that is important, but instead it is in the results with the kids. One of the first things noted was the increase in attendance and participation of students who normally had problems before. Next there is an increase in students taking science courses, even beyond the school’s 2.5 year requirement. Finally, in the 7 years he has done this he has had 79 out of 103 kids go to or are attending a university, college, or trade school beyond high school. The Nationals will be held in Grosse Isle on June 2, 2001. He feels his work with the electric cars is nearing its maximum and seeks now to try his hand at solar-powered vehicles.