Hezekiah Williams III, a freshman at McKinley Technology High School in the District, received a bronze medal (third place) in the Senior Engineering Division at the International Sustainable World Project Olympiad in Houston last weekend. Williams was chosen to attend the Olympiad after winning second place in this year’s citywide science fair. His project compares gasoline and diesel as fuel, focusing on differences in the time it takes each to boil, amount needed and environmental impact of its use.

How did you get interested in testing different fuels?

I really like cars. I like finding solutions to things in cars, things like that, just to help the environment and to help the performance of vehicles. I just can’t wait until I get a car.

How did you react when you found out that you won second place in the citywide science fair and would move on to Houston?

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I felt really excited even though I didn’t really show it. I was really excited because I’ve been to the citywide once before ... and I never imagined that I’d be going here two years later.

What’s your favorite subject in school?

Biology. I just like finding out how things work. ... Life sciences is just interesting. Learning how the body is made up, how you have everything in the world that takes up space and matter is some percentage of carbon, just pretty much learning how different things from life work.

What do you want to pursue as a career?

I’d like to do mechanical engineering, possibly. I’m definitely going to continue with school. ... I’d like to go to a college with a good mechanical engineering program, like MIT or North Carolina A&T.