Firsts and Go Karting

By Jeane Em

Hey everyone!! I'm Jeane Em DuBose, and another member of H.E.R.O.E.S. I'm writing to tell you a bit about why and how I got involved, and to tell you about the adventure Anna and I had today.

To start things off, why did I join HEROES. Well, I was sitting in my history class in the middle of October, getting my notebook out and preparing to be bored to death. Anna, a good friend of mine from freshman year, and who sits by me in history, asked if I would be interested in helping her out with her science fair project. Always glad to help a friend, I unwittingly replied, "Yeah sure. Why not?" Little did I know that these word would be my doom.

The next day, Anna and I went down to see Mr. Sievers, our faculty sponsor. I had never seen the man before, and was slightly unnerved when the tall red head began talking technical with Anna. He then turned to me and asked "So you ready?"

That was the beginning of my part in HEROES. I went into Mr. Sievers' class that Friday, a little nervous and with no idea of what to expect. Jake, Sabrina, and Melissa, the other members of the team, were quick to welcome me, and Mr Sievers put me straight to work. Basically, my job was finding restaurants in the Tri-Taylor area and giving the others numbers to call so we could receive used oil to convert to biodiesel. I also was charged with writing down the names of all restaurants that were willing to help us out, the name of the manager, and dates and times to pick up the oil.

It's been a long and hard trek from those simple days. Now, I'm our self proclaimed Media Expert. My job is now to contact local news broadcasting services (newspapers, radio stations, and television stations) and to organize interviews. I'm also looking into farming coops and local museums that might be interested in displaying a model of our system. Though I'm not at all a science person, I love coming to the lab every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday or Sunday. Everyone is so kind and amusing; the grad students in charge with the lab are some of the funniest guys I've met in a while. I'm right in my element. Writing, reading, and contacting people is something I enjoy. I've also had a lot of "firsts" with HEROES. I used my first power drills, built my first biodiesel refinery, and was interviewed for the first time.

Now, I know what you're asking yourselves. When is she going to mention go karting?

Well, I'm getting to that. Today was another first. We now have enough biodiesel to power a diesel engined go kart, and are going to test it tomorrow at IDOT. But in order to test our fuel, we have to run off the fuel already in the tank (so our fuel is the only stuff being tested). After wheeling the kart through the halls of the ERF (lots of surprised college kids), we made it to the parking lot. Mr. Sievers asked "Who wants to go first?" Without even replying, I jumped into the seat of the vehicle (not an easy task wearing a skirt, let me tell you). Mr Sievers pull the cord, and the cart started sputtering and coughing toxic black gas. Slowly, I started to roll forward. The engine was extremely loud, but I made out the words "BREAK!". From drivers ed, I know that the break is on the left, and stomped on it. I then drove into the parking lot, without hitting a single pedestrian or car.

For the next half an hour, Mr Sievers, Anna, Travis (our handy eighth grader) and two of the graduate students drove up and down the drive way, though none of us were as enthusiastic as Mr Sievers, who was hooting and hollering during his entire, rather lengthy turn.

Be ready for pictures, which should be uploaded soon.

:)