Bright American Students Follow in the Path of Transportation Pioneer Garrett A. Morgan
I believe strongly that transportation’s future leaders are sitting right now in classrooms across America. They are the intellectual capital that, when invested wisely, will pay dividends by creating a better and more efficient transportation system in California and around the world.
All we need to do is provide them with some direction and a little encouragement.
That’s why I’m so pleased to announce that students from six schools in California, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., participated March 28 in the 2006 Garrett A. Morgan Symposium, a videoconference sponsored by the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) in San Jose.
Two of the schools are from California. District 4 (Oakland) has identified one class from Wells Middle School in Dublin, Alameda County, to participate in this month’s event. District 9 (Bishop) singled out one 6th grade and one 8th grade class from Big Pine School near Bishop in Inyo County.
The youngsters are competing to come up with ideas for this year’s symposium, based on the theme, “Sustainable Transportation for the 21st Century.” Along the way, they will have the opportunity to learn more about mathematics, science and the communication skills they will need to “sell” their ideas to others – both now and in the future.
This is incredibly exciting. As a member of the MTI Board, I have met some of these young people through previous Garrett A. Morgan Symposium competitions. These grammar and middle school students are so bright and so unfettered by convention that they come up with truly astonishing visions of future mobility.
The kids’ innovative ideas are based on an MTI-sponsored “learning module” that students have been studying for several months through their schools. Course topics build upon each other like a set of blocks.
They include: “What Do You Know about Transportation?” and “Transportation History: News and Dates,” along with “Current Issues,” “Transportation Energy Sources and Fuels,” “Sustainable Transportation,” and “Careers in the Field of Transportation.”
Teachers ask the students to think about questions regarding sustainable transportation. They also encourage the students to ask transportation experts some tough questions during the videoconference.
After completing the lessons, each class selected one project to present to the others during the symposium. For example, Bill Hunt’s 8th grade Physical Science class in Big Pine talked about “The Feasibility of Bio-diesel Recycling in the Owens Valley.”
Now, that’s a topic that could add significantly to transportation knowledge and automotive technology!
On March 28, the California students visited their local Caltrans district facilities and participate in the videoconference with students from the East Coast schools to exchange ideas on sustainable transportation.
All received a greeting from Norman Y. Mineta, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The MTI will judge the best class project and announce the winner. Then the MTI will host (and pick up expenses) for a student, teacher and parent to attend the June MTI banquet in San Jose. As a result, teachers get motivated, excited students, receive a $50 gift certificate for supplies and a chance to win $500 for their school.
I’m encouraged to think that as these students engage in the important mobility questions of our time, they will be following in the footsteps of a true American transportation pioneer.
Garrett A. Morgan, an African American inventor, was born in 1877 in Kentucky and lived in Cleveland, Ohio, until he died in 1963. He is credited with inventing an early form of the traffic signal in a nation that was just beginning to experience a growing number of automobiles. His invention became the foundation for managing traffic flows in the 20th century.
Although Morgan’s invention has been updated – for example, it’s been electrified and computerized – the technology he created is considered to be both revolutionary and ahead of its time.
Who knows what ideas this new generation of dreamers may invent? I like to think that one of the students involved in the program – which has touched some 1 million youngsters over the years – may dream up and then put into place the next great American transportation idea.
Then maybe he or she will become known as the Garrett A. Morgan of the 21st century. If nothing else, I think these students deserve a healthy round of our applause.