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Five Innovative Youths From Natick, MA, Bethesda, MD, Mohnton, PA, Tonawanda,
NY, and Alexandria, VA Advance to Final Round in National “Trash to Treasure”
Challenge for Chance to Win $10K Grand Prize from the Intel Foundation
Support the innovators of tomorrow by casting a ballot today for your
favorite inventor in Design Squad’s “Trash to Treasure” contest!
Boston, MA—Wednesday, November 5, 2008—Design Squad, PBS’s award-winning
TV show, the Intel Foundation, and By Kids For Kids Co. (BKFK), are pleased to
announce the top five finalists of the national Design Squad “Trash to
Treasure” contest. From a clog-preventing “Drain Coil” made from wire hangers to
the “Home Dome,” a shelter made out of discarded plastic bags, kids across the
country dug deep into their recycling bins—and their imaginations—to find
innovative ways to re-engineer everyday discarded material into functional
products. The final results, chosen by a panel of judges out of more than 1,000
entries, moved things or people (Mobility), protected the environment
(Environmental), or could be played with inside or out (Play).
“Like Design Squad, the ‘Trash to Treasure’ contest showed kids that
engineering is a fun and creative endeavor,” said Marisa Wolsky, executive
producer of Design Squad. “The hands-on nature of the competition was a
great way to define for kids what engineering is all about: Using your
imagination to design and build things that help people.”
Don’t miss the chance to support your favorite inventor in his or her quest to
become “Trash to Treasure”’s Grand Prize Winner! People all over the country can
help choose the winner by voting for their top-choice invention at
www.bkfk.com. Finalists will also be voted on
by a contingent of VIP judges representing companies that are committed to
innovation and design, including the Ford Motor Company, Wonka, Oreck, American
Express, Time For Kids, Atlas Devices, Covidien, Continuum, Targus, and
Unilever. The Grand Prize Winner will receive a $10,000 cash prize from the
Intel Foundation and a trip to the development lab at Continuum, an
award-winning international design and innovation consultancy, to build a
prototype of his or her “Trash to Treasure” design. Voting ends on Tuesday,
November 18 at 12 p.m.
Read on to learn more about the finalists and their “Trash to Treasure”
inventions, then visit the Design Squad website at
www.pbs.org/designsquad to
learn more about the show that inspired the contest.
From Alexandria, VA, 13-year-old Sophia Viggiano made it to the finals
round with her “Drain Coil” invention. Sophia describes the inspiration for her
innovation: “While taking a shower, I noticed the drain kept getting clogged. I
told my dad and he said he was going to get the drain chemicals. I thought there
has to be a better way of keeping the drain unclogged without using harmful
chemicals that pollute the water!” The resulting innovation is a cone-shaped
insert with wire webbing running up and down, enabling this repurposed mattress
coil to trap most clogging agents. No backed-up drain and no chemicals required!
From Mohnton, PA, 18-year-old Rebecca Crandall broke into the top 5 with her
“Gardening Wagon.” “Our family garden was the inspiration for my idea. Since our
garden is expansive and my dad has back problems, I wanted to create something
that would make moving tools or transporting trash easier for him. Thinking that
something with wheels makes it easier to move anything, I looked around the
garage and found some old items we were going to discard in the week’s trash.
The bottom of my gardening wagon is an old skateboard to which I attached an old
cabinet door to serve as a base for the all-purpose bin. Then, I attached a
chair frame on top of the cabinet door and placed the trash bin inside of the
frame, which made it stable and created the handles of the cart. Now, we can
easily transport tools, move trash, and haul weeds or mulch without much
lifting.”
From Bethesda, MD, 16-year-old Kettner Griswold made the cut for his
“Rain Powered Waterwheel Generator.” Kettner explains: “I wanted to build a
machine that would harness the potential energy of rain water in an everyday
home. As an environmentalist, I value the earth. Many people know that it is
ridden with the Co2 emissions, so to help reduce that, I devised a way to
achieve renewable energy through hydropower. Water from my home’s gutter is
diverted to a pipe that spews water directly onto a wheel of a generator,
turning the chain linkage (from a scrapped electric scooter). Then this cranks
the motor and generates electric power that gets stored in a rechargeable
battery. The motor and the battery also came from that same scooter. It’s free
electricity for the home anytime it rains!”
From Natick, MA, 12-year-old Max Wallack enters the final round by
redefining a makeshift dwelling, which he calls “The Home Dome.” Max recalls:
“When I was six, I won an invention contest that included a trip to Chicago.
While there, I saw homeless people living on streets, and beneath highways and
underpasses. I felt very sorry for these people, and ever since then, felt that
my goal and obligation was to find a way to help them. My invention improves the
living conditions for homeless people, refugees, or disaster victims by giving
them easy-to-assemble shelter. Entirely made of Styrofoam peanuts stuffed into
discarded plastic bags, “The Home Dome” is a round dome in the shape of a
Mongolian yurt. It includes a built-in bed that anchors the dwelling down by the
weight of the person inside. It helps the environment by using one of the most
bulky and difficult-to-dispose types of trash that our society produces and
transforms it into homes.”
From Tonawanda, NY, 16-year-old Samantha Hoar rounds out the top five
with her “Reusable Tissue Box.” Samantha says, “During an environmental
conversation with my father, I told him how I was going to make a positive
difference in the world someday. One day, I decided to brainstorm ideas on how I
was going to do that, and I came up with this invention—a repurposed plastic CD
spindle case. Now, instead of buying a new tissue box every time you need more
tissues, you would simply buy a roll of tissues packaged in biodegradable paper
and use the tissue case to store them. It would be cheaper for the customer to
buy a tissue case just once, and then just buy more tissue when needed.
Factories would cut back on the production of cardboard, which would save time,
money, and energy. To replace the tissues you simply twist the top off the case,
place the tissues inside, and put the top back on.”
“We received so many great entries for ‘Trash to Treasure’ that it was tough to
pick just five finalists,” said Nate Ball, host of Design Squad on PBS.
“The uniqueness and caliber of the finalists’ designs show that it really is
today’s creative kids who will be the innovators of tomorrow.”
“We are excited by the outpouring of innovation in the ‘Trash to Treasure’
contest!,” said Norman Goldstein, the founder and CEO of BKFK, “We encourage
local media in the communities where these talented young inventors reside to
help us get out the vote and support the finalist from your hometown!”
About Design Squad on PBS
Design Squad is a reality competition show aimed at kids and people of
all ages who like reality or how-to television. Its goal is to get viewers
excited about engineering and the design process. Over the 13 episodes, eight
high school contestants tackle engineering challenges for real world
clients—from creating cardboard furniture projects for IKEA to designing a
gravity bike (no pedals or cranks!) for Extreme Game champion Tom Whalen. The
new season of Design Squad premieres on PBS in April 2008. In the final
episode, the top two scorers battle for the Grand Prize—a $10,000 college
scholarship from the Intel Foundation. The Design Squad web site goes
"behind the scenes" with cast interviews, photos, outtakes, and the inside scoop
on each Design Squad challenge. Online, visitors may watch full-length
streams of Design Squad episodes, share their thoughts, and learn more
about the role of engineers in society via
www.pbs.org/designsquad.
Design Squad is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding
for Design Squad is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
and the Intel Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the National Council
of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying, United Engineering Foundation (ASCE,
ASME, AIChE, IEEE, AIME), Noyce Foundation, Northrop Grumman, the IEEE, and the
Intel Corporation.
About the Intel Foundation
Intel Foundation has been developing and funding educational and charitable
programs since 1989. Its mission is to advance science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics education to fuel tomorrow's innovators, with a particular focus
on inspiring women and under-represented minorities to be full participants in
these fields. The Foundation, funded solely by donations from Intel Corporation,
supports Intel employee volunteerism and philanthropy as part of Intel's efforts
to be a good corporate citizen both locally and globally.
About By Kids For Kids Co.
By Kids for Kids® (BKFK®) is a youth marketing and media company partnering with
the world's leading corporations to provide a platform to foster, share,
showcase, and commercialize youth innovation and entrepreneurship. Their mission
is to inspire, motivate and stimulate the innovative spirit within all young
people.
The closely held Stamford, CT-based Corporation has been dedicated to making
youth ideas a reality since 2003. Through its website (www.bkfk.com) and its
social community (Idea Locker™), online competitions, TV show (Think Big™),
Magazine (Possible™), press, and education outreach, the company engages youth
in the US and around the world. BKFK® youth-created products are available
nationally and serve as a testament to the power of youth innovation and social
entrepreneurship. Learn more: www.bkfk.com
# # #
Contacts:
For BKFK: John Forrester (323) 702-3684
media@bkfk.com
For WGBH: Kathryn Hathaway (617) 300-5305
kathryn_hathaway@wgbh.org
Nicole Siswick (617) 300-5334
nicole_siswick@wgbh.org
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