Bulletin E-Edition:
more photosEmma Mortland 7 a second-grader at William E. Miller Elementary School describes to the audience how her Fish Swim Tubes will allow her pet fish to swim throughout her house. Her idea was one of 16 winning inventions presented at the Invention Convention luncheon at The Riverhouse Hotel & Convention Center in Bend on Tuesday.
Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin
Some inventive solutions
Kids find fixes
By Diane S.W. Lee / The Bulletin
Last modified: March 11. 2010 8:52AM PSTNine-year-old Megan Riley couldn't sleep at night. Her father's snoring was a problem. So she came up with an idea. She taped a rock to the back of her father's pajama T-shirt.
“People are most likely to snore while sleeping on their backs, so that makes him not able to sleep on his back,” she explained. “I also made a microphone that's connected to earphones, so that when he snores it will practically tell him that he is snoring.”
The crowd howled with laughter.
Megan presented Stop that Snore during the Invention Convention luncheon in The Riverhouse Hotel & Convention Center in Bend on Tuesday. The fourth-grader's idea was one of 16 winning prototypes selected from a pool of 263 inventions from students at William E. Miller Elementary School in Bend. This is the first year the program was based at the school.
Megan took home an award in the Gotcha category for a humorous invention.
“I feel really good to win,” she said. “It was very, very, heartwarming to know that I won.”
Her father, Dennis Riley, was proud.
“She really worked hard on thinking of how to solve (my snoring), so it must be an issue for her,” Dennis Riley, 42, said.
Megan spent two days working on her project and had help from her parents. Students had three weeks to put their projects together.
Fourth-grade teacher Karen Schlaich, coordinator of Invention Convention, said the goal of the program is to get kids to practice creative problem-solving. She said it is an at-home project, which encourages students to get their parents involved.
“It's really a great way for kids to look at their daily problems and to come up with simple solutions.” Schlaich said.
The 16 students were awarded certificates in one of five categories, such as Exceptional Presentation, Daily Benefit, Relevance to the Environment, Overall Excellence and Gotcha. The Best of Show medal was awarded to the project with the best overall presentation and invention.
Second-grader Wesley Zeller won Best of Show for his Garden Recycle Style invention. He planted soil and plant seeds in plastic containers, paper cartons and egg shells. His mother came up with the idea to collect and reuse recyclables for his invention, which is a greenhouse.
“I learned that recycling is better than just throwing it in the landfill,” Wesley, 8, said.
Dressed in a business suit, Wesley passed out handmade business cards to judges and parents at the event. He wants to be a businessman when he grows up. He is planning to show his invention at a farmers market in his neighborhood.
“I'm proud of him,” his mother, Joan Zeller, 53, said. “I think he's definitely going to be in business someday because he's just got a business sense.”
The projects were judged by eight members of the Rotary Club of Greater Bend. They typically choose 10 finalists, but judges said this year it was hard to pick finalists.
John Audia, a rotary member, has judged Invention Convention projects for about seven years. This year, he said it was extremely difficult because it was the best quality he had ever seen.
“It becomes obvious which ones stand above the rest,” Audia said.
Other inventions included Hide-A-Hockey, a bed that reverses into an air hockey table, and Brush Jaws, two brushes clamped with sponges to soak up water from brushing one's hair.
Audia said that kids are naturally inquisitive, and it showed in their presentations.
“It's just a fun atmosphere to let their creativity come out,” he said.
Students learn to step back from routine activities and look at the environment around them, he said. And they do it in a risk-free environment, where they can just have fun.
“I just enjoy watching the kids put in this amount of effort, and it kind of helps me to stop and look around at my environment around me,” he said.
Diane S.W.
Lee
can be reached at 541-617-7818 or at dlee@bendbulletin.com.
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