Week 10: Michael Prugh Makes a Visit

If you've ever dealt with the anticipation one feels when waiting for something exciting, then you probably know how the girls and staff members felt at today's Helping with Horsepower class meeting. Weeks ago, Michael Prugh, a very well-known and respected designer and the owner of Prugh Design, had agreed to help the girls with their project, and today he was making a special trip in to visit with them!

 

 Prior to this meeting, Michael had received a copy of the girls' original "Phoenix" design. In order to help the girls modify their design so it could be painted and reassembled in the time frame they've been allotted, they would need to reconsider a few of the design elements they had originally discussed. 

Michael talked with the girls about what they were looking for, what their inspiration was, and what their final vision looked like. After he felt that he understood where the girls were coming from, he took some notes to take with him so he could begin working with the painter to come up with the final design. The girls were very excited and semi-anxious to see what their collaborative design would look like. 

After Michael and the girls had finished talking about the design for the motorcycle, Jeff Kreun came in to surprise the girls with an idea he had been working on for their motorcycle's seat. 

The girls were pretty excited to see what Jeff had been cooking up. Although this feather to flame design was just a preliminary example of what the girls could choose to do, it sure did get some conversations going!

Week 8: Time for Some Big Decisions

For the eighth week of this project, the girls were back in the conference room to make some big decisions. This was the first week they would spend picking out parts for their motorcycle. This was an exciting week for the girls! They had spent the last couple week removing parts from the bike and now they were getting the opportunity to pick out the replacement pieces.

Since the third week of the project, the girls had been perusing a couple of books with thousands of different parts. From information gathered from prior conversations with the girls, Amy Klock put together options for the girls to choose from. The girls discussed their options as a group and then, in a blind vote so they would not sway one another, the girls chose their replacement parts one by one.

After the first few rounds of voting, the girls switched their attention to a very special guest, Jeff Kreun. Jeff is the owner of Kreun Kustoms and specializes in upholstery. He had come to surprise the girls by offering his services to them. All the girls were quite excited that they Jeff would be re-doing their motorcycle seats.

Jeff brought different samples of fabric for the girls to see as well as brainstormed with them what they could do to set their seat apart. The ideas began to fly! Jeff sketched some of the girls' ideas out and promised to bring an example of what they had decided to do in the weeks to come.

Week 7: Removing the Fenders and Gas Tank

Last week, the girls had their first chance to get their hands on the bike up at the Hot Rod Institute. This week they were back again, and in great spirits to do more work on the motorcycle! Now that they had a better feel for getting hands-on with the tools and bike, they all seemed quite excited to begin removing some of the sheet metal. The girls took turns working with Rob Burton, Amy Klock, and each other to start removing the fenders and the gas tank.

 

 Once the girls removed the pieces from the bike, they moved them to a safe place where they could be cleaned up a bit. This  is also the time when more questions began to arise. As the pieces were coming off the bike, several of the girls began asking questions about other parts that were now in their view. Their gears were turning! A few of them even began talking amongst each other about how those parts would look once they were painted and back on the bike. 

 

As the day began winding down, the girls were pretty excited about what they had accomplished. The bike was starting to look a little less like a shiny motorcycle and a little more like a project to them.

A Little More About the Concept Behind "Phoenix"

Pictured about is Raeshawn, a 5th grade Girls Inc. member and the artist behind the original "Phoenix" design. Raeshawn's design had been selected by the other girls participating in the project during a blind vote.

After one the girls were informed that they would be creating designs, Raeshawn's wheels began turning. Below is the story about she came came up with the concept of "Phoenix".