Editor’s note: Devin White, 14, is an aspiring inventor and youth blogger for this site.
You can get a taste of MIT while still in high school?
Oh yeah, it’s possible! Not only is it possible but it is a reality for hundreds of high school students across the country, from Anchorage to Miami,, and even the literally little town of Littleton, N.H. Get involved with MIT in high school by inventing!
It’s called InvenTeams sponsored by the Lemelson-MIT Program. The InvenTeam initiative, created by the Lemelson-MIT Program, offers high school students an opportunity to cultivate their creativity and experience invention.
InvenTeams are teams of high school students, teachers, and mentors who receive grants up to $10,000 each to invent technological solutions to real-world problems. Each InvenTeam chooses its own problem to solve. (Editor’s note: Inventors Digest features three InvenTeams in the July 2009 issue.)
So why should you talk to your favorite science or math teacher about applying for an InvenTeams grant? Hear what some who’ve experienced it have to say;
“I love that we got to pick our own project. The fact that it was close to projects that real engineers do was very appealing. The number of life skills I developed is countless. I would do the whole thing over again in a heartbeat.”
-Michael Bogardus, Saratoga Springs High School InvenTeam student (2008)
“The fact that we were helping people who don’t normally receive help motivated us through the frustrating parts. We often had to scratch plans and rethink ideas that we had spent a lot of effort on. I learned quickly that complicated projects required the cooperation of many people with diverse strengths.”
-Fady Barsoum, Troy High School InvenTeam student (2008)
InvenTeams is one of the best contest/competition/ event for high school inventors in the world. It allows teams of young inventors like ourselves to use our minds to solve real-world problems with the only problems being those of that the idea faces us with. It promotes ingenuity, teamwork, time management, and most important, success. Check out MIT InvenTeams. And for any current or past InvenTeams reading this feel free to leave a reply sharing your story. Let’s Show the WORLD, Don’t Stop Thinking.
Devin White
