By Paula Day

In less than seven years the third millennium will be here.

But students at Our Lady of the Assumption School got a jump on the 21st century this spring. Allowing their creativity free rein, they designed a complete infrastructure to accommodate electric vehicles, thought by many to be the transportation of tomorrow.

For their futuristic plans the eighth grade social studies classes received the Special Sponsors Award in and Electric Vehicle and American Community competition in Washington, D.C. in May. Their creations included a solar-powered garage for the home, public parking with plug-in meters to recharge batteries while drivers were shopping, and an electric service station with amenities like a game room and restaurant where patrons could enjoy themselves while batteries recharged.

The national competition was open to professional architects, urban designers, economists, demographers, transportation specialists, and professional degree students in these fields.

Charamie Baxter, OLA social studies teacher, received permission from competition sponsors for the elementary school students to enter the contest in a special category on the condition they consulted with professional advisors while working on the project. Architect Terry Biglow, city planner Susan Contreras and civil engineer Joseph Gennette acted as advisors.

Forty-five eighth graders took part in the multifaceted project. They brainstormed. They became familiar with industry jargon. They learned to draw in perspective and to scale. They sharpened such intangible skills as working as a team to mesh one person’s favorite idea with another’s and the discipline of presenting the finished product in neat drawings backed up with well-written explanations.

The slight, five-foot Miss Baxter would hardly seem to fit the role of taskmaster. She maintains her job was made easier by the enthusiasm of the students. The project developed from a classroom challenge. While studying the ramifications of the industrial revolution, the students fretted: Why didn’t they live in an age of revolutionizing inventions? Miss Baxter realized her class had no frame of reference for measuring the impact of the transistor or micro chip and saw the competition as a response.

Tasks relating to the project mushroomed, taking the young visionaries to their science teacher and the library. They studied solar power and electricity, designed credit cards and interviewed a bank official to learn how an automatic teller machine works. Each student presented his or her idea in drawings with a written explanation. Interest remained high, Miss Baxter believes, because students felt they “were doing something real.”

Just under the wire, the project was completed and sent to the National Museum of American History for judging.

Three students, Miss Baxter, and Principal Joan Tiernan went to Washington to receive the award, courtesy of U.S. Air, Georgia Power and Hyatt Hotels.

Miss Baxter had consulted Georgia Power’s Annie Hunt-Buries early in the semester. “The students saw a need and figured out a solution,” said the manager of the electric transportation department for the Utilities Company.

“In the process they tapped umpteen learning skills in an innovative and bold fashion that one is hard pressed to do in a typical classroom.” Georgia Power packed and shipped the completed project for judging.

More than 750 professionals were present for the awards ceremony in Washington, according to Dick Bowman of Hughes Power Control Systems. The division of Hughes Aircraft was a sponsor of the competition.

“When the award was presented, Bowman said, the OLA students’ entry received “three times as much applause as any other entry.”

The concept of electric vehicles is really designed for children because they will be the ones to see the idea become a reality, Bowman pointed out. “The fact that they were interested and participated in the process was very exciting to the adults.”