OCHS Club Sets Sights on Building a Car

For an Oak Creek High School club in its infancy, the Alliance of Aspiring Engineers' first project is a pretty lofty one.

The group formed just last month and wasted no time in getting going: the club is setting out on building a car, and make it as energy efficient as possible.

The club and the creation of the car is the brainchild of senior Josh Treuer. Engineering has been one of his interests since he was a child, Treuer said, when he was playing with Legos and designing things at age 4 or 5.

By the time he got to high school, he was participating in robotics, which only furthered his interest. This fall he will attend the University of Wisconsin and begin work on an engineering degree.

Another leader of the group, senior Brianna Sutherland, will pursue electrical engineering at the Milwaukee School of Engineering next fall.

When creating the Alliance of Aspiring Engineers club, which has about 30 members, Sutherland and Treuer zeroed in on creating a car and doing it quickly enough to enter it into state contests. While they later realized the timeframe won't allow for any contests this year, the group is still moving forward on the project.

The car will be about go-kart sized. The challenge for the group is to build it as efficiently as it can, which means focusing in on all aspects of a vehicle. That will involve heavy education on the math and science behind a car, Treuer said.

But the club's activities don't stop there—they are also looking for funding and sponsors.

If all goes well, Oak Creek residents might see the car in parades or otherwise traveling around the high school grounds.