$50 gift card for submitting your DASH+ entry!

We've been hearing lots of feedback about how hard teams are working on the DASH+ contest.

That's why we are proud to announce an additional reward for EVERY team that meets contest requirements and submits an entry.

Along with your official certificates, we will be sending out $50 gift cards per team—that can be used as cash—so your team can celebrate your participation.

Once your entry is submitted, enjoy a treat on us!

Remember, you MUST submit by 11:59 PM ET on March 1st to receive the $50 celebration money for your team.

Sign in now and good luck!

-The DASH+ Team


No purchase necessary to enter or win. Entries must be received by March 1, 2010. Void where prohibited. See official rules for eligibility requirements and full details at FuelOurFutureNow.com/contest.

The Henry Ford Helps Shape the DASH+ Grand Prize

The Contest that Challenges Students to Drive Change Today Teams Up with The Global Resource for American History and Innovation

A team of tomorrow’s scientists, innovators, engineers and designers will win the DASH+ Grand Prize and head to Detroit this summer for a VIP experience. In addition to pitching their eco-friendly dashboard to automakers for a chance to influence future vehicle production, these high school students will have a behind-the-scenes tour of The Henry Ford, exploring the rich history of the auto industry and the innovators who built it.

• The Grand Prize experience at The Henry Ford may include:
• The chance to meet with one of America’s most prominent innovators
• An awards ceremony attended by leadership and dignitaries
• A tour with the museum’s curator that goes beyond the museum room floor – looking at cars and other innovations not seen by the general public
• The opportunity to be promoted among The Henry Ford’s future innovators
• A close-up look at the Ford Rouge Factory Tour that is part of the Dearborn Truck Plant, where the F-150 truck is built

The high school students’ Grand Prize experience will include events with other DASH+ promotional partners, as well as an event with Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE competitors. Click here for more information.

Is Your Team Using Your Online Workspace?

Don't go it alone!

We've built an online workspace for you to make it even easier to compete in DASH+. This means your teammates can upload draft versions of the dashboard, technical plan, and video until the March 1st deadline.

Simply Sign In to your team's account and start using My Team Toolbox.

Use the Submit buttons to upload your drafts and access the collaborative workspace. Nothing is final until you click on SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY.

Don't forget the deadline to submit your entire entry is March 1st.

Good luck!
The DASH+ Team

Integrating DASH+ Across School Projects

Pictured Above: Students and their adult mentor, Ron Grosinger, from Memorial High School in West New York, NJ, are recognized at the DASH+ launch event on October 19, 2009.

At Memorial High School in West New York, New Jersey, we are no strangers to pressure. In addition to competing in the DASH+ contest, we have the added pressure of having an electric car to refine, a ground-up race car to build, an electric bicycle and a bike generator to complete. Last year, five students and I dedicated 700 after school hours to building an electric car in four months. That small team has evolved into a daytime class with 16 students, and we can’t afford to just simply spend more hours of work on one project, as this would take time away from our other projects.

To solve this I have decided to go back to basic fundamentals. Fundamentals say that you must look at what you have and not at what you don’t have. In that mindset, we have spent the first half of the school year learning science and building projects. We have learned about how chemical energy is converted into mechanical energy, how batteries work and how all of this relates to the environment. Rather than look at how little time is left before the March 1 contest submission deadline, I have instead looked at how to integrate DASH+ into all of our other projects. This way we can move forward with all projects while involving more students. However, that is easier said than done. As I can’t just tell the students that we are integrating DASH+ into what we are doing, I use fundamental lessons to accomplish this.

For instance, the drawing of the dashboard design and placement of gauges can relate to our other project, the ground-up race car. This way if I do a lesson on concept sketch drawing, the race car team can benefit. I have used the DASH+ Webinar “Dashboard Design: From Concept to Reality” to inspire and teach about one point perspective drawings. I also plan to hold a fundamental introductory lesson on drafting by using a CAD program. This will cover any measurement the dashboard layout blueprints may need as well as training for our bicycle generator project, where students are drafting and building a metal bracket that attaches a car alternator to a bicycle wheel to produce power.

Moving forward, there is a balance of time to maintain: fundamental time vs. project time. I will distribute that time as I see fit and let you know how we are doing in a future blog entry. Well that’s it for now. Thank you to the DASH+ team and good luck to all of those competing!

--Ron Grosinger, Technology Education, Memorial High School