Talcott Mtn Academy Students Win at National Invention Convention

Two eighth grade students from Talcott Mountain Academy (TMA) received awards at the 2018 National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship Expo (NICEE) in Dearborn, MI, May 31–June 2. Emma Ruccio, from Southington, won first place in the 8th grade category for her invention, Got Your Back 2.0. She also received the Innovation in Electronics Award, presented by Arrow. Julian Kage, from Glastonbury, won a Patent Application Award for his invention, Quick Lyme: The Rapid Test to Detect Lyme Bacteria in Ticks.

Got Your Back 2.0 was inspired by Emma’s personal experience with scoliosis. To monitor the curvature of her spine, Emma undergoes x-rays every six months. With some patients needing screening twice as frequently, office visits are time consuming and the repeated exposure to radiation from the x-rays has a long-term impact on a patient’s health. As such, Emma used infra-red technology to develop a way for her to monitor changes in the curvature in her spine at home while minimizing disruption on her everyday life and reducing her overall exposure to radiation.

Julian’s concept for Quick Lyme was inspired by the increasing number of people in his life who have been infected by Lyme disease. The protocol Julian developed can be done at home and takes between 2-5 minutes to test a tick for Borrelia, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. This is a quick and cost-effective alternative to current methods for tick testing that require lab testing and can take up to two weeks to receive results. Quick Lyme test results are shown on an easy-to-read test strip.

Over 108,000 K-8 students from 20 states, Canada and Mexico participated in local invention competitions earlier this year. With just 427 moving on to compete in Nationals.

National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship (NICEE) event is an annual celebration of K-12 inventors and entrepreneurs from across the U.S. This far-reaching forum is the marquee event of The STEMIE Coalition. The event provides a live, in-person opportunity for youth inventors and entrepreneurs in grades 3-12 to display their critical thinking skills through inventing, innovating, and entrepreneurial activities. NICEE 2018 was presented by United Technologies Corporation.

Talcott Mountain Academy in Avon, Connecticut, is an independent school for intellectually excited students K-8. Founded in 1983 as a division of the Talcott Mountain Science Center, the Academy is a unique on-site learning laboratory that nurtures children’s innate abilities from an early age. www.talcottacademy.org