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Greensboro Day School recruiters may soon have an unusual tool when they hit the road in their quest to attract students. The school’s Electric Vehicle Conversion Club is dismantling a 1990 Toyota Corolla with the goal of turning it into the school’s first fully electric road-worthy vehicle.

“We hope to convert the car, paint it or outfit it with a vinyl wrap featuring the school’s colors and/or famous Bengal emblem and put it to use on campus,” said junior Niklas Gahm, the club’s founder. “We would like to offer it for use through our admissions officers when on recruiting tours as an example of Greensboro Day’s commitment to sustainability.”

The club has about 20 upper school members who meet after school and on weekends to work on the car in the garage of a rental house the school owns. They are led by physics teacher Jeff Regester, as well as Nick Zanowsky, a 2007 Greensboro Day graduate, and Kevin Pusch, a Greensboro Day parent. The Triad Electrical Vehicle Association also offers support.

Gahm got the idea to start the club after researching and writing a paper about the advantages of electric and solar vehicles for a biology class. In addition to the usual sources, he contacted the Triad Electric Vehicle Association, participated in their meetings and interviewed their members.

“My research and the many conversations with this diverse group of people showed me that we urgently need to step away from fossil-fuel-burning engines and their devastating impact on our environment,” Gahm said. “As alternative energy sources need to be widely discussed, further developed and broadly implemented, I felt that fostering awareness for this need could be best achieved by actually taking a step into this direction.”

Thus, the Electric Vehicle Conversion Club was born.

Students spent the fall raising funds. They have drained the air conditioning system and removed the gas tank, exhaust system, air conditioner, radiator and engine, which they hope to sell. Next steps will be to purchase the electric motor, motor-control electronics, batteries and battery-charging controllers.

“The weight of the batteries has to be carefully distributed and the motor properly interfaced to the transmission,” said Regester, the club’s adviser.

The club hopes to have the car ready for display at the Natural Science Center’s Party for the Planet April 24 or at Greensboro’s Fourth of July parade.

“We’re also planning to have the car used on a rotating basis by Greensboro Day faculty to commute to and from work,” Regester said. “Each teacher could use the car for a week at a time, thus eliminating one traditional car (at a time) from the roads and exposing a wider audience to electric vehicles.”

Regester said having a project that combines technology, physics and hands-on construction is ideal from an educational perspective.

“Seeing the direct application of scientific principles drives home the point that what they learn in science class really is useful in the real world,” he said.

It also allows students to gain the knowledge necessary to solve future challenges, he said.

“With our exploding population, increased living standards around the world and resulting competition for scarce natural resources, so-called ‘green’ technologies are not going to be optional in the future,” Regester said. “Students who have in-depth exposure to these technologies will be better prepared for the future, both as knowledgeable citizens and as possible careers.”

Going “green” is nothing new to Greensboro Day. In addition to the electric car project, the school is taking part in the Green Cup Challenge with schools around the world for the second year. The school won in its division last year by reducing electricity use by 20.1 percent compared to their historical electricity use during the month of February. This year, the school also hosted a kick-off conference for students across North Carolina and partnered with the school’s dining hall company to run a Clean Plate Challenge to measure how much food was thrown away and keep track of waste.

“We hope students stop and think about their relationship with the environment and realize that small actions, such as turning off a light switch, when joined with a host of other small actions can make a significant difference,” said Gareth Griffith, the school’s sustainability coordinator. “I hope that when students go home, they encourage their families and friends to think and act to benefit the earth.”

Contact Jennifer Atkins Brown at 574-5582 or jennifer.brown@news-record.com.