3-07-2024 3:06pm

High School Invention Team Transforms Lives for Seniors with Mobility Challenges

Ypsilanti PressLLC Editor

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High School Invention Team Transforms Lives for Seniors with Mobility Challenges

Ypsilanti, MI (March 6, 2024) — In a remarkable initiative driven by compassion and innovation, a dynamic team of students from high schools across southeast Michigan united last summer to provide newfound independence for seniors grappling with mobility issues. Comprising Suhani, Alice, Amy, Jacob, Erica, and Enoc from Saline, Ypsilanti, Pioneer, Lincoln, and Clarenceville High Schools, this passionate team draws inspiration from personal experiences supporting their own parents and grandparents needing help while changing body positions.

Witnessing the significant impact of seniors' needs on family schedules and financial plans, the team recognized an opportunity to make a difference. Leveraging the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam® grant, facilitated by the EMUiNVENT program, these students were one of eight national teams to secure funding to develop innovative solutions aimed at improving the lives of their loved ones and the broader senior community.

Suhani, the team leader, shared her sense of empowerment, stating, "As a high school student leading our invention team, I can see how we can redefine possibilities and shape the future with creativity as our compass."

To address the challenges faced by community-dwelling elderly individuals in changing positions safely, the team initiated extensive outreach to senior centers and assisted living facilities. Understanding the unique needs of seniors became the catalyst for designing a solution that goes beyond mere functionality.

Inspired by their interactions with seniors, Suhani and Alice also launched a monthly Tech Townhall at the Saline Senior Center, offering assistance to seniors in navigating technical challenges with their devices. These experiences are further fueling the team's dedication to their mission as they come closer to the final solution.

Seeking mentorship from EMU professors and Toyota engineers, among others, the students are tirelessly navigating the complexities of design and engineering. Embracing failure as a steppingstone to success, the team is learning valuable lessons in resilience and determination.

Despite the demands of high school, the team is persevering through success and frustration, adopting a divide-and-conquer strategy. Each member has assumed leadership of a specific department, gaining expertise in technical design, communication, finance, outreach, and sustainability.

Alice reflected on the communication challenges, emphasizing, "Effective communication with internal and external stakeholders can be a big challenge. Learning how to convey the message, figuring out how much information to give, and concisely getting your points across has really helped me boost my communication skills and grow as a person."

Committed to affordability and sustainability, the team prioritized using recycled materials throughout the design process. The final solution, envisioned as environmentally friendly, solar chargeable, and durable, aims to provide a long-lasting impact.

Dr. Shiri Vivek, EMUiNVENT Co-Director at Eastern Michigan University, guided the students in preparing their grant proposal, while ongoing support from the Spark East Innovation Center and Toyota engineers is continuing to fuel the team's motivation.

As the team diligently works on their prototype solutions to aid the elderly in independently changing body positions, they are actively seeking support to fulfill their dream of showcasing the final working prototype at EurekaFest® — an invention celebration scheduled for June 10-12, 2024, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This unique Michigan InvenTeam looking up to the community to make their dream come true.

Leigh Estabrooks, Lemelson-MIT’s Invention Education Officer, praised the InvenTeam, stating, “These high school students are not just problem-solvers of tomorrow; they are problem solvers today, helping to make our world more equitable, healthier, and safer."

ABOUT EMUiNVENT

EMUiNVENT and its Dare 2 Design program provides a platform to build students’ critical thinking, innovating mindset, and entrepreneurial skills. The young inventors are tasked with identifying a problem, brainstorming the feasibility of possible solutions and bringing them to life through a prototype. Students create innovations, for example, from backpack anti-theft alarms to redesigning syringes for medication. Although the program had to go virtual this year, it provides a live, in-person opportunity for young inventors and entrepreneurs to display their innovative ideas to the public and peers.

ABOUT THE LEMELSON-MIT PROGRAM
The Lemelson-MIT Program (LMIT) is a national leader in efforts to prepare the next generation of inventors and entrepreneurs. Our work focuses on the expansion of opportunities for people to learn ways inventors find and solve problems that matter to improve lives. Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion aims to remedy historic inequities among those who develop inventions, protect their intellectual property and commercialize their creations.

Jerome H. Lemelson, one of U.S. history’s most prolific inventors, and his wife Dorothy founded the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994. It is funded by The Lemelson Foundation and administered by the School of Engineering at MIT, an institution with a strong ongoing commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for K-14 STEM education. For more information, visit Lemelson.MIT.edu.

For Further Information, please contact:

Alice Jiang, Communications Lead, w.ajiang.a@gmail.com

Suhani Dalela, Team Lead, suhanidalela@gmail.com

Dr. Shiri Vivek – Co-Director EMUiNVENT, svivek@emich.edu