Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix as a novel approach to STEM and clean energy popularization

BY JOSH KANGAS

Imagine being a student with the opportunity to build your own hydrogenpowered remote-control car with your friends, while learning and engaging with the future of sustainable automobile technology. This is the Horizon Grand Prix, a comprehensive science and engineering program sponsored by industry leaders such as Toyota and Hyundai.

It empowers students to work in a team as they become the problem solvers of tomorrow. Horizon achieves this by connecting students with the global automotive industry as they learn to apply the concepts of environmental sustainability, renewable energy, and alternative fuels by building and racing a hydrogen fuel cell RCl car. Students from 13 countries compete in the Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix—including students right here at Hebron!

Design. Build. Race!

In the Horizon Grand Prix program, students are introduced to the fundamentals of renewable energy through a variety of hands-on experiments. Experience gained during these experiments is then applied in the second phase of the program - building and developing a hybrid car powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Even more exciting, this remote-control car will be designed with competition in mind. Students will need to consider not only the proper assembly of the vehicle, but also optimize transmission ratio, weight distribution, engine electronics, and more in order to be prepared for the final phase of the program-the races. Students will test their design/build in an endurance race for a chance to participate in subsequent competitions at the national and world championships.

Hebron Prepares Students for an Evolving and Increasingly Global World. The students at Hebron participating in the Horizon Grand Prix are supported by the Kaneb Center for Science and Engineering. The Kaneb Center was carefully designed to provide a flexible transformative space for student creative design and collaboration. This space is dedicated to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) disciplines and gives students access and opportunity to work with today’s most up-to-date industry technologies such as a laser cutter, CNC mill, 3D-printers, and much more, all of which students will access during the design and build phases of their car. Hebron students have always had the opportunity to explore and learn from hands-on work while growing to be responsible global citizens. The Horizon Grand Prix program with its sustainability focus is an exciting addition to our curriculum that is in keeping with our values.

Finally, and most exciting of all, up until this past school year, the U.S. Horizon Grand Prix had been hosted exclusively in the State of California. However, a group of students enrolled in the EDIE pathway (Engineering, Design, Innovation, Entrepreneurship) here at Hebron have blazed new trails to bring the the program outside of California for the first time and last year worked on building a hydrogen race car. Through their excitement and commitment, along with the unprecedented support of Horizon Educational, and an incredible and generous donor, we are happy to announce that Hebron will be able to acquire an official Grand prix race track and scoring system, becoming the first racing hub for the Horizon Grand Prix in the U.S. outside of California. This has inspired other schools here on the East Coast to begin adopting the Horizon Grand Prix and Hebron will be the East Coast Regional Race host for the foreseeable future and will have opportunities to host the United States National Race in years to come as the program develops here on the East coast. This is a tremendous opportunity for Hebron and its students.