Effingham High School Teacher Designs Wild New Vehicle, Wins Contest

Charlie Huber entered a contest three years ago and Tuesday was the culmination of his victory in winning that contest.

Huber, an art teacher at Effingham High School, entered a contest for creating characters that would help promote health and fitness at schools. He sent in his designs and won the contest. Then a year and a half ago the whole concept for his characters and a vehicle came into being.

"I sent in my character designs and the characters on this automobile are mine," said Huber. "Then myself and the design team from Sarah Bush Lincoln with Craftsman Industries in St. Louis, created this car to promote healthy lifestyles. Sarah Bush Lincoln takes this vehicle to schools to have kids learn about healthy eating and exercising."

The vehicle has fruit on top, Huber's characters on the side and exercise equipment. While it was parked at EHS, several teenagers were trying out the equipment such as the jump ropes.

"There are jump ropes that come out on each corner and there's equipment that comes out on each side to enable you to do sit-ups and push-ups," said Huber. "It's equipped with a speaker system to play music. The back opens with a television you can see in daylight so they can put in exercise videos. The mouth of the car can shoot out a water stream.

"At some point they're also going to have four people who dress up like the characters that are on the car. I really like the appearance and that's the best thing when it drives up to schools. I think it's just a great thing that Sarah Bush Lincoln is doing. They're making it fun and they're making kids want to have a healthy lifestyle. The whole Sarah Bush team has been amazing.

"Illustrating is something I love to do," continued Huber. "I was just blessed enough to be picked the winner."