From elementary school to middle school, 26 Danbury Public School students were chosen to their inventions to the 35th annual Connecticut Invention Convention next month.
Hundreds of students competed in the regional competition held at Hamden High School on March 18. The 26 Danbury students selected for the finals are:
Ana Batista, Great Plain Elementary School; Maria Carmago, Hayestown Avenue Elementary School; Ellis Solimine, King Street Intermediate Elementary School; Allen Pei, Mill Ridge Primary School; Alex Ascone, Aimee Lippman and Jaiden Mendes, Pembroke Elementary School; Max Hinh, Shelter Rock Elementary School; Bernardo Cazassa, Juliet Dahlstrom, Anna Clara DaSilva, Vanessa Mendes, Elysmarie Taveras and Tepan Domenica, South Street School; Ryan Ceylan and Lyla Nero, Stadley Rough Elementary School; Luca LaRosa, Brooklyn Lounsbury and Nikki Styranovski, Academy of International Studies; and Gabriella Brown, Christian Fournier, Haley Jones, Joshua Maruffi, Maria Sousa, Chase Tomaino and Jeffrey Trigueros, Westside Middle School Academy.
Jeffrey Trigueros, inventor of the “Drill Blower,” watched his dad spend too much time sweeping sawdust away during construction jobs. So he came up with a telescope-like attachment to the drill that takes in air and then blows the sawdust away from the surface.
The Invention Convention is part of the science curriculum. For three weeks students engage in coming up with ideas and putting them into motion. One of the crucial learning curves for students is to figure out how to solve problems with their inventions and tweak them to perfection. The invention convention fosters interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics learning for students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
The CIC will be held Saturday, April 28, at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. More than 130 Connecticut schools and thousands of young inventors participate every year.