LOS ANGELES, Oct. 15, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Archer School for Girls, headed by Elizabeth English, received a grant awarded to 14 schools nationwide from the Lemelson-MIT Program. Cheryl Saban, Ph.D., founder of the Cheryl Saban Self Worth Foundation for Women & Girls and The Saban IDEAlab donor, presented the grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program to Archer's InvenTeam™ of students and educators in The Saban IDEAlab at Archer on Thursday in celebration. The team of students received $7,000 in grant funding as part of the Lemelson-MIT Program's 2015-2016 InvenTeam initiative to inspire young people to solve real-world problems through invention.
As grant recipients, the School's InvenTeam members are invited to develop their invention, a compact faucet mounted water meter, to be showcased at EurekaFest™, a multi-day celebration of inventions and inventors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in June 2016.
Archer's InvenTeam was formalized and named as a finalist after receiving an Excite Award for their proposal to develop an inexpensive, compact faucet-mounted water meter with an adjustable aerator that seeks to ameliorate Southern California's long-term drought problem by influencing conservation behavior and encouraging people to use water more responsibly. The device will be designed to change the pressure of the water flow optimized for different tasks, display how much water has been used that day, compare actual use to recommended baseline levels for the number of people in the household, and will be run by a battery recharged by the flow of water from the faucet.
"High school students are proving that they can identify problems worth solving and develop impactful inventions," said Joshua Schuler, executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program. "This year's InvenTeams are addressing pressing societal needs and striving to solve problems they see in their communities and the world."
Archer's InvenTeam of 20 students and faculty mentors Michael Carter and Shane Berning collaborated on the Lemelson-MIT Program's challenge to invent a technological solution to a real-world problem, with patenting assistance from Science teacher Lindsay Browder. The process involved a survey of the Archer community with an idea raffle that resulted in over 250 responses identifying real-world problems, and participation from each team member in innovating a solution. Archer and the team's faculty mentors supported the student inventors by including an Invention and Product Development class in the curriculum and on-going InvenTeam club meetings to ensure all students had the opportunity to contribute.
"I'm so proud of our students for coming together to stretch themselves to invent something new and take on a real-world problem that they care deeply about," said Carter. "The Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam initiative is an amazing opportunity that would not have been possible for us without Head of School Elizabeth English and Archer's nationally recognized culture of innovation from our founding 20 years ago right up through our young Integrated Design and Engineering Arts program and our new digital prototyping facilities in The Saban IDEAlab."
With the Lemelson-MIT Program grant and a spot at the 2016 EurekaFest, the InvenTeam will continue the process, constructing their water meter and fundraising to send the entire team to the event for the unveiling of their invention.
About the Archer School for Girls
Celebrating its 20th year, The Archer School for Girls is an independent school that provides a 21st-century college preparatory program for students in grades 6 through 12 in an environment that explores and refines the ways girls learn best. The cultivation of a strong sense of individuality, personal identity, independence, a sense of global engagement, and an array of leadership opportunities defines each student's experience. For more information, please visit our website at www.archer.org.
Byline: Members of the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam at The Archer School for Girls with their faculty advisers, Head of School Elizabeth English, and Cheryl Saban in The Saban IDEAlab at Archer.
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