And lest we think that West Philly made it through on sentimental favoritism and not merit, think again, says Steve Wesoloski, a member of the X PRIZE technical team that reviewed the school's submission.
"The West Philly team was very thorough in the plan they presented for review," he says. "Their level of detail and professionalism proved to us that they deserved to move forward in the competition."
The kids must now build their car, finalize their business plan and submit their application by next spring for testing and evaluation over the summer. Winners will be announced next October, but editors at Popular Mechanics, which evaluated the finalists' proposals, have already pegged West Philly among the top-10 contestants likely to win.
"We're definitely being taken seriously," says Hauger.
But they need money to stay in the game.
West Philly has already raised $300,000 via grants from the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Philadelphia Academies, as well as smaller cash contributions and in-kind service donations from a number of supporters, including Drexel University, which is helping develop the business plan.
But the team is still $80,000 to $100,000 short of what's needed to knock their application out of the park.
"The blood banks have already told us we can't sell any more of our blood" to raise money, Hauger says - and it's not clear whether he's joking.
A big fundraiser is planned for January, which I'll provide details about in a future column. But if you feel the urge to support the team right now, go to to make a
donation online.
I'd give the kids my entire bank account, if I could. As student Azeem Hill told me this week, "People talk about school-reform strategies in Philly. Our car club is a reform strategy."
E-mail polaner@phillynews.com or call 215-854-2217. For recent columns:
http://go.philly.com/polaneczky. Read Ronnie's blog at http://go.philly.com/ ronnieblog.
