The STEM students continue to impress and inspire me with their motivation, drive, and enthusiasm to learn and do as much as they can – all while in high school. Our journey with STEM began last year.  We had a team work on finding potential solutions to the sound issues in our office. A new group has taken on their next challenge.

These STEM students joined forces to create InvenTeam.  This team meets a few times a week in the late afternoons, and also all day on Saturdays! (This is only a part of why I am so impressed!) This InvenTeam was selected by MIT and given a grant of $10,000 to build their invention. This team wanted to build a device to warn car drivers of approaching bicyclists to intersections in protected bike lanes, which is an issue in our beautiful city of Chattanooga since the addition of bike lanes throughout downtown. In early June, the team flew to Boston to present their project at MIT’s EurekaFest.

It is an infrared camera in the forefront of the photo.

To prepare for their EurekaFest presentation, three students from InvenTeam visited our Chattanooga office to share their project .. and to present us with a wonderful award!

First, the presentation. All presenters were confident and knowledgeable. The content was well-planned and flowed naturally. They discussed why this was needed, their solution, how they built it, how they tested it, and how they’d like to improve. It was clear. This group had done this before and felt at ease being up in front of an audience.

Second, our award! The InvenTeam needed to raise funds in order for the team to make the trip to Boston. Of course, CodeScience wanted to do our part! To show their appreciation for being a team sponsor, they presented us with an award!  (Which they made themselves!)

As for EurekaFest, InvenTeam absolutely killed it! They won awards for Best Presentation and Best Group Photo (shown above)! Their booth included a mock-up of protected bike lanes. When people walked by the booth, a signal was sent to the control box which activated a live turn signal provided by the City of Chattanooga Traffic Department!

If you’d like to see more:  https://twitter.com/STEM_InvenTeam

I am so happy to be part of CodeScience and supporting our local communities, especially kids. And I am so proud of these young adults for taking charge of their lives and their futures at such a young age. They never cease to amaze me – taking strides to improve our lives, one step at a time.


Are you awesome? Join our team of CodeScientists. We are hiring!