After several technology shows, I thought I knew what I was in store for with today’s NextFest activities. However, I am not sure anything could prepare you for the wave of some 19,000 knowledge hungry students that attended NextFest today. After talking with what seemed to be most of the students, I can tell you our future looks very bright. I was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the questions and the perspective they have for anything new and exciting. The questions ranged from: “what impact will the Hybrid locomotive have on our environment?” to “what is the chemical make-up of the batteries?” and everything in between.

Most knew about hybrid technology, but their eyes widened when we talked about the scale of the hybrid locomotive and the impact that it can have on the environment. We were fortunate to be across the aisle from a couple of GM’s hybrid offerings and it really reinforced the size of the hybrid locomotive when we could say that the locomotive weighs about as much as 200 of the hybrid cars or has the power of over 40 of the hybrid cars. As much as their eyes wided on the scale, they widened even more when we talked about the impact a hybid locomotive can have on the environment. It is nice to know that the next generation of scientists and leaders understand the importance of our environment.

The press is next this afternoon and they will have to come with some challenging questions to keep up with the kids we talked with today.