Three Georgia Teams Take Home Honors at First National Invention Expo

K-12 Teams qualified through Georgia Tech’s K-12 InVenture Challenge 

At the first-ever National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship Expo (NICEE), three K-12 student teams from the state of Georgia won honors in two categories. 

Succulent Solution placed first in the grade 5 category, ahead of nearly 50 teams. They won for a method to make clean water accessible, involving an engineered plastic tube to suction water from prickly pear cacti.

Succulent Solution is from Nickajack Elementary School, in Smyrna, and consists of Jonathan Fairgrieves and Riley Davis.

Wedge Tech won second place in the grade 9-12 category for designing a horseshoe-shaped wedge to keep stacked folded chairs from falling. The device has attracted the attention of teachers interested in testing the product. The wedges, for which a patent has been applied, come in a variety of shapes and designs.

Everett Apple and Clare Crose, both in tenth grade at Living Science School, in Woodstock, make up Wedge Tech.

NoiseX won third place in the grade 9-12 category for a noise-canceling, voice-amplifying headphone to help students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tune in to their teachers and tune out other extraneous noise.

NoiseX members are grade 10 students from Walton High School, in Marietta: Michael Kim, Harry Cain, and Jack Bugbee.

NICEE was held on May 19-22 at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia. The invitation-only event is a part of the new non-profit coalition STEMIE -- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math linked to Invention and Entrepreneurship. STEMIE partners  with various statewide competitions and encourage adapting business models as part of the invention process.

More than 260 students from 15 states competed in NICEE. Inventions were evaluated on four criteria: process, solution, impact, and presentation. Each entry had to address a problem and be a reasonable solution that can appeal to a targeted audience. This platform allowed students to think practically about their prototypes and brainstorm the application that they wanted to bring to their product.

The three successful Georgia teams qualified to compete in NICEE by being among the top competitors in the 2016 Georgia Tech K-12 InVenture Challenge:

• Succulent Solution won the 2016 People’s Choice K-12 InVenture Award
• Wedge Tech won the K-12 InVenture TAG Manufacturing Award
• NoiseX won the K-12 InVenture Top High School Award

The Georgia Tech competition was held in March and coordinated by the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). It tasks K-12 students to tap into their creative and scientific skills to solve a real-world problem of their choosing.

Two other top winners of the Georgia Tech event also qualified to compete in NICEE:

• Bristles 4 Braces from Pickett’s Mill Elementary School, in Acworth, consisting of grade 5 students Julia Oubre, Sofia Byrd, and Autumn Bell.

• The Wheel Barrel Team from Amana Academy, in Alpharetta, comprising grade 8 students Melissa Gill-Marquez, Annie Sunderland, and Faria Panwala.

“It is remarkable that Georgia had so many successful teams in a national competition,” says CEISMC Executive Director Lizanne DeStefano. “On behalf of Georgia Tech and CEISMC, we are so proud of these wonderful innovators and their supportive schools and families.”

In addition to competition and awards ceremony, NICEE provided opportunities to network, hear from expert speakers, and tour the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Next year’s event is set for June 1-3, 2017.

More Information:

Learn more about the 2016 Georgia Tech K-12 InVenture Challenge and the winners:
http://ceismc.gatech.edu/news/2016-georgia-tech-k-12-inventure-challenge-award-winners

For a listing of all the winners from the First Annual National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship Expo (NICEE) visit:
http://www.stemie.org/nicee-2016-award-winners-list