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The Garrett Morgan Sustainable Transportation Competition was instituted by former Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater to encourage young people to consider careers in transportation. The Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) has sponsored a competition every year since 2001. This competition is open to middle school classes, clubs, after-school programs, and any other youth-serving organizations.
If you are a middle-school teacher, club leader, or program counselor, you and your students can compete to win up to $1,000 for your classroom, club, or program, plus an all-expenses-paid trip to San Jose, California, to be honored at the MTI Awards Banquet. Sponsored by the US Department of Transportation, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and other industry partners, this program engages students in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) through a competition focused on sustainable transportation.
2024 Competition Winners |
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1st Place Winner | 2nd Place Winner | 3rd Place Winner | ||
Kennedy Middle School, Cupertino, CA Project: Hexa-Grooves for a safer future |
William Hopkins Middle School - Team D, Fremont, CA Project: Protecting Pedestrians at Night |
Peter Hansen & Julius Cordes Elementary Schools, Mountain House, CA Project: DriveLink - The Technology connecting thousands of cars daily |
Contact MTI's Program Liaison Susan Vinh (susan.vinh@sjsu.edu) for more information on how to participate and to be connected with a transportation professional!
Important Dates |
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October 23, 2024 |
Garrett Morgan Registration is due on this date by 11:59p.m. Please note that if you are interested in or waiting for MTI to pair your team with a transportation professional you may leave the second part of the form blank. |
February 23, 2025 |
Ready to compete? Garrett Morgan Project Entry Form and Photo Release Form are due on this date by 11:59p.m. |
March 23, 2025 |
Upload the final video and presentation slides to your team's assigned folder by 11:59p.m. Program Survey is due on this date at the same time. When all required materials have been submitted, please notify Susan Vinh (susan.vinh@sjsu.edu) via email. MTI Program Liaison will share a unique link for each team. If you have not received yours by March 22, 2024, please notify susan.vinh@sjsu.edu. Approved video format: MOV & MP4. Approved presentation slides format: .ppt, .pdf, and Google Slides link (if submitting a Google Slides link, please upload a Word document with the link and set the Slides permission so that anyone with the link can view it). |
2024 Video Compilation |
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2023 Video Compilation |
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2021 Video Compilation |
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2020 Video Compilation |
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2019 Video Compilation
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2019 Competition on Caltrans News Flash
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2018 Competition |
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Garrett Augustus Morgan, an African-American inventor, was born in Kentucky in 1877 to formerly enslaved people Sydney Morgan and Elizabeth Reed Morgan. The seventh of ten children, he spent long days working on the family farm. He also attended school but had to quit at age 14 to earn a living. That did not discourage him – he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, found work as a handyman, hired a tutor and continued learning. Mr. Morgan eventually moved to Cleveland and became prosperous as a sewing machine repairman with his own clothing manufacturing business that employed more than 30 people. Later, he established the Cleveland Call, a successful newspaper.
He had an excellent imagination and invented things we still use today, including a zig-zag stitching attachment for sewing machines. He also invented an early version of the gas mask. When an explosion occurred in a tunnel under Lake Erie, Mr. Morgan volunteered to rescue the trapped workers using his new invention to protect against the deadly fumes. It became an instant success, and he was given the Medal of Bravery by the citizens of Cleveland. He was nominated for the Carnegie Medal but was rejected, partly because he was black. Many fire departments wanted his gas mask, too, but they canceled their orders when they learned that a black man had invented it. So Garrett Morgan hired a white man to pretend he was the inventor, and the gas masks began to sell quickly.
As an early owner of an automobile, Mr. Morgan thought that roads could be safer if they had a better signaling device at intersections. At that time, the roadway was used for every mode of transportation – autos, wagons, streetcars, horses, bikes and pedestrians. The existing signals said only "stop" and "go," which meant that pedestrians were left to compete with all the other traffic. So Garrett Morgan invented a hand-cranked signal that would control traffic at an intersection, and then it would stop all traffic to allow pedestrians to cross. Just before his death in 1963, the U.S. government gave him an award for his invention.
Year |
School |
Location |
2024 | Kennedy Middle School | Cupertino, California |
2023 | Hopkins Junior Middle School | Fremont, California |
2022 | Hopkins Junior Middle School | Fremont, California |
2021 | From the Heart Christian School | Suiteland, Maryland |
2020 | Montessori California Project- Capitol Campus | Sacramento, California |
2019 | Montessori California Project- Capitol Campus | Sacramento, California |
2018 | Toddy Thomas | Fortuna, California |
2017 | Urban Promise Academy | Oakland, California |
2016 | Morada Middle School | Stockton, California |
2015 | Guntown Middle School | Guntown, Mississippi |
2014 | Juan Crespi Middle School | El Sobrante, California |
2013 | Juan Crespi Middle School | El Sobrante, California |
2012 | Morada Middle School | Stockton, California |
2011 | Monument Middle School | Rio Dell, California |
2010 | Kemps Landing Magnet School | Virginia Beach, Virginia |
2009 | School Of International Studies At Meadowbrook | Norfolk, Virginia |
2008 | Edna Brewer Middle School | Oakland, California |
2007 | Edna Brewer Middle School | Oakland, California |
2006 | Wells Middle School | Dublin, California |
2005 | Kemps Landing Magnet School | Virginia Beach, Virginia |
2004 | Argyle Middle School | Silver Spring, Maryland |
2003 | Jones Middle School | Hampton Roads, Virginia |
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