LIHU‘E — If Paris Yomen has her way, gasoline will one day cost 10 cents a gallon and a car will get at least 100 miles per gallon. Yomen, a sixth-grade student at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, was named one
LIHU‘E — If Paris Yomen has her way, gasoline will one day cost 10 cents a gallon and a car will get at least 100 miles per gallon.
Yomen, a sixth-grade student at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, was named one of 15 Hawai‘i finalists for The 6th Dream Car Art Contest sponsored by Toyota Motor Co.
“Gas would come from being converted from ocean water,” the sixth grader said.
Dan Nanbu of Kaua‘i Toyota, handling the distribution of prizes for Toyota Hawai‘i, said of the 15 Hawai‘i finalists, 13 are from O‘ahu, one is from Kaua‘i and the other is from Maui.
The Hawai‘i winner advances directly to the world competition without having to go through state eliminations and a national phase.
“When we got the letter from Toyota Hawai‘i, I told her to look real good because there might be a key in there,” said Melinda Yomen, Paris’ mom, who was on hand to help Paris with her cache of prizes, which included $150 in cash, a special Toyota backpack and a framed certificate applauding her “Finalist” status. “Her dad is waiting for the trip to Japan and a new Toyota.”
Her mother said the family has three cars, all Toyotas, and Paris was inspired to enter the contest after reading about it in the newspaper.
Paris Yomen’s winning work depicts a car and truck on a beach with a converter.
Ocean water is diverted into the converter, which separates living fish and organisms and re-routes them back into the ocean before the water is fed into the converter, where it is transformed into gasoline, her mother explained.
“This is the future,” Paris Yomen said. “We can have cars which go 100 miles per gallon of gas. And gas costs just 10 cents a gallon.”
