Dissecting the spinner
The initial rims project began on a less-mobile scale. The students in Ketner's class started designing custom wheels that didn't spin using high-end Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) software. But that wasn't enough. Unsatisfied, a couple of students asked the high-school teacher if they could design spinners. "I didn't know how to make a spinner," Ketner said, "so I started bothering some people [who did]." Phone calls were made. E-mails were sent. Eventually, he contacted Fowlkes. "I just randomly e-mailed the guy," Ketner said.
Describing the students' desire to design spinning rims, he asked Fowlkes for a little insight into how it was done. But the custom-rim designer did something better. He gave the students tips, blueprints and even loaned them a $1,300 rim to study. "He was able to supply us with a lot of material and a lot of insight into the manufacturing process," Ketner said. "He's been very generous." Like mad scientists, the class dissected the black, metal wheel, unlocking the secrets behind the rotating rim. "We wouldn't have been able to do it without taking that thing apart," he said.
Behind the designs
For 10th-grader Cameron Robinson, the inspiration for his rim design originated 10 years ago. A devout "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" fan at the age of 5, Robinson decided to incorporate the colors of his favorite crime-fighting reptiles into his spinner. "I started thinking about my dream car," he said. "What it would be like if I took a color combination that everyone liked." His green-and-black design, dubbed the "green kryptonite prototype," is sleek, yet cutting-edge. "I didn't want it to be so complex and nobody like it because it was green," he said. Throughout the design process, Robinson said he treated the rim as if it were an actual test model for Dävin.
He changed the style, tried to design something new, fresh. But, he said, the highlight of the project was getting to meet Fowlkes. "I didn't know [Ketner] was going to actually bring the man who started it all," he said. "That was like a big surprise." As the lone female in the class, 11th-grader Katie Hawks had to roll up her sleeves and become one of the guys when tackling the
Custom Wheel challenge. "I didn't really know what I was doing," Hawks said. Her chrome-and-purple rim went through many transformations during the design process, the 17-year-old said. From what started as a snowflake-inspired look to the finished hammerhead tribal design, Hawks made sure her creation had a feminine touch. "I tried to make it kind of girly, for girls," she said.
A little radical
The donated black-and-chrome spinner sat in the center of a table, a large portfolio encasing each student's design next to it. As he called their names, each high schooler had a brief one-on-one with the spinning rim inventor himself. The students explained their designs. Why they did what they did. The inspiration behind it. Each hoping theirs would help them claim the $500 scholarship. "All of them are just great," Fowlkes said. But there was one, he said, that was truly outstanding. And that black, red and orange tribal design by 10th-grader Brett Helm took the top prize.
"This is just a cool looking spinner," Fowlkes said. It's not easy to manufacture, he added, but that's not always what he's looking for. "I was looking for thought process," he said, "not just the design itself, but what inspired the design." Uniqueness was the motivation behind Helm's "Pulp Fiction" titled design. "I was just trying to find something different," he said. "I decided to make something a little radical." Though this was Fowlkes first time working with students, he said he truly enjoyed the experience. "This is a good pilot program," he said. "I was more than happy to come down here. "I wish I had this when I was in high school."
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