We are going to build a car together! Yes, completely true and most awesome too! Our students have been given this incredible roll-up-your-sleeves, hands-on, unique opportunity through current parents Mike and Kathleen Gisby. The Gisby family founded Altezza Restoration in 2013 and today the shop is recognized as an award-winning business specializing in the restoration of high-end automobiles from yesterday and today. To be specific, the car in the works is based on a 1933 Ford Roadster, a kit produced by Factory Five and sponsored by Altezza Restoration.
Last fall the Gisby’s approached Dr. Powers to discuss the concept of building a car with our students. We all agreed it would be an amazing experience. This collaborative effort will challenge and build our students’ ability to collaborate, communicate, plan, organization, and problem-solve!
This, coupled with the final unveil of the physical car itself, is a win-win for all involved. We see it as an opportunity to make something together, with the hope that we inspire and ignite our students desire and passion to build, create, and think unconventionally.
We will have a dedicated TSS Roadster website with photos, videos, and a journal blog that parents and students can access to track the progress. The project timeline has us finishing by the end of May. The plan is to unveil the TSS Roadster masterpiece at the Greenwich Concours D’elegance (June 1st – 3rd, 2018). While the details are not finalized, everyone will be invited to celebrate in the Roadster’s victorious debut.
What you need to know for this project:
- The program is specific to upper school students who expressed interest in the process. The small group of upper school students that opted out will have the opportunity to visit the shop, see the work in progress, and learn more about this process. The hope is they will change their mind and contribute to this project too
- It is part of the daily activity rotation and weekly visits will begin on Tuesday, January 23rd with the first groups of kids. Students are assigned to 5 different groups and will rotate through on at least 3 occasions
- Every Tuesday, seven or eight students will be transported to Altezza Restoration by Dr. Buckingham from 1:40-3:05 P
- Lower school students will participate in the project with updates at weekly Morning Meetings. All lower school students will take a field trip to the shop during the month of March.