Richard G. Lugar, United States Senator for Indiana

U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar has named Mater Dei High School Super Mileage Challenge Team in Evansville, a Lugar Energy Patriot.

“We name Lugar Energy Patriots as a way to recognize outstanding Hoosiers who have demonstrated leadership and initiative in taking concrete action to improve America’s energy security. I am pleased to recognize Mater Dei High School for their initiative and leadership throughout Indiana,” said Lugar.

Building an operational vehicle reaching an estimated 1,420 miles per gallon is not an easy task. Mater Dei High School students develop their own designs and build the vehicles on their own time and with limited resources.

“These are just average high school students from a small, Southern Indiana school, coming together to make people think more about energy,” said Timothy Dickel, Mater Dei Principal. “Their success shows that these designs can be done and can work in our society.”

The Energy Patriot award is part of an ongoing effort by Lugar to recognize professionals, scholars, students or businesses that demonstrate leadership and initiative in taking concrete action to reduce America’s dependence on foreign energy sources through renewable energy and conservation.

An editorial profile of the Mater Dei High School Super Mileage Challenge team is below and may be published in its entirety. Additional information is available at: http://www.lugar.senate.gov/energy/links/patriot/ and http://www.materdeiwildcats.com/AboutMD/EditNews/tabid/64/ctl/ArticleView/mid/429/articleId/800/SupermileageTeamChampions.aspx .

For more than a decade, Lugar has stressed the strategic importance of energy security and the economic and security risks of dependence on oil. His legislative efforts promote sustainable energy production and use, incentives for renewable fuels like cellulosic ethanol and E85, increased fuel economy in cars and clean coal. The Lugar Energy Initiative at http://lugar.senate.gov/energy highlights the repercussions of America's dangerous dependence on imported oil and provides information on energy legislation introduced by Lugar, commentary by outside experts and information on alternative and renewable energy sources.

Profile of a Patriot

Each month Senator Lugar recognizes outstanding Hoosiers with an Energy Patriot Award. These Hoosiers are making a difference for their communities, Indiana and the nation through pursuit of a more secure energy future.

The newest hybrid-electric vehicles can average 50 miles per gallon. Down in Evansville, students at Mater Dei High School are building vehicles that exceed 1,400 miles per gallon.

When it comes to the Super Mileage Challenge, mpg, not mph, is the focus, and the team from Mater Dei is beating out teams from all across the country.

“We build vehicles to see how many miles per gallon we can achieve,” said Andrew Ritter, Team Captain. “We build 3 and 4 wheel vehicles by combining innovation and engineering.”

Students from all backgrounds and age groups are eligible to join the team.

“Our team has students freshman to senior, boys and girls and every combination you can think of,” said Dan Ritter, Adult Team Advisor. “Our students are very committed and very competitive.”

The Indiana Mathematics, Science and Technology Education Alliance (IMSTEA), a non-profit, all volunteer organization dedicated to improving the mathematics, science and technology literacy and competency of all Hoosiers, sponsors the Super Mileage Challenge and promotes it as an integrated curriculum project featuring high mileage cars built by Indiana High school students.

“Mater Dei High School has been part of the IMSTEA Super Mileage Challenge since its inception in 1996,” said James Thompson, president of IMSTEA. “Their entries have always been high quality cars with expert workmanship and solid teamwork. They are three time winners in the stock class ('05,'06,'07) and won the unlimited class in '08. This year they repeated as unlimited champions with 1348.88 MPG. Mater Dei High School has gone on to compete in other mileage events and done well in each one entered. They set a high standard for other schools to follow.”

According to the Energy Information Association (EIA), Indiana used more than 160,700 thousand barrels of petroleum in 2007. The Mater Dei Super Mileage team is building and designing cars that receive more than 20 times the highest commercial mile per gallon vehicle. Utilizing the design and technology of these vehicles could drastically reduce the amount of foreign oil Indiana imports each year.

For more than a decade, Lugar has stressed the strategic importance of energy security and the economic and security risks of dependence on oil. His legislative efforts promote increased fuel economy, sustainable energy production and use, incentives for renewable fuels like cellulosic ethanol and E85, and clean coal. These efforts support Indiana projects such as the Super Mileage Challenge.

Building an operational vehicle reaching an estimated 1,420 miles per gallon is not an easy task. Students develop their own designs and build the vehicles on their own time and with limited resources.

“This is a purely extra curricular activity for these students,” said Tim Dickel, Mater Dei Principal. “We do not have a wood shop class or similar courses. These students spend anywhere from 5 to 30 hours a week working on these vehicles.”

“It’s difficult to get all the work done,” said Andrew Ritter. “Sometimes we are still building a car when we arrive to a competition.”

Because the school has no budget for the program the students depend on the generosity of Hoosiers to help make their design become a real vehicle.

“The biggest challenge for us is our budget and experience level,” said Matt Shank, driver and crew chief. “It costs anywhere between $3,000 to $4,000 for each of our cars and most of that comes from community support. Southern Indiana is very generous to us.”

“Other cars that we compete against cost more than $10,000 and we just can’t spend that much, and yet, we perform equal or better to those cars,” said Dan Ritter.

The team sets new goals for their designs and performance each year, starting with a similar model design but building each vehicle from scratch.

“The best part of being a part of this team is building a truly efficient vehicle,” said Shank. “Knowing that one day our designs and our vehicles could be mass produced is a really big deal.”

The rewards and recognition the students at Mater Dei have received certainly allows their efforts to come full circle.

“Over the past few years we have gotten much more acknowledgement from other states and all over the world, really,” said Dickel.

“We are often approached by our competitors at the races,” said Dan Ritter. “The kids share secrets, highlight each others achievements and thank each other for the opportunity to race.”

These rewards are shared by the students and the staff and adult volunteers that help them throughout the season. Encouraging the students to work with their hands is very important from the parents’ perspectives.

“Teaching them to see a project from beginning to end is crucial to their learning,” said Dan Ritter.

“Watching these kids create something so unique and special, especially when they have no working knowledge of technology, design or engineering, is the best part. These students realize that one day their efforts could help end our oil dependency.”

“These are just average high school students from a small, Southern Indiana school, coming together to make people think more about energy,” said Dickel. “Their success shows that these designs can be done and can work in our society.”

Senator Lugar agrees. That is why we congratulate the Mater Dei Super Mileage Team on being a Lugar Energy Patriot.

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