Young Stonington Inventor Recognized at the Social Enterprise Trust's RESET Awards

Hartford - October 28. Connecticut Invention Convention(CIC) winner and Stonington whiz kid, Colin Wertz, was honored at the reSET Social Enterprise Awards on Tuesday night, for creating an invention with a “social enterprise” focus.

At the time of the 2014 Invention Convention Wertz was a 5th grader at S.B. Butler Elementary School. He was recognized for his Electronic Eyes invention. “I got the idea last Christmas when I received a toy robot that can get out of any maze and I thought, why cant people do that,” Wertz explained. He turned the idea into an invention and even built a functioning prototype.

This invention is a sensor for people who are visual impaired to prevent them from running into objects. The sensor is attached to a baseball hat and beeps when the wearer approaches an object, the beeping alerts the person before they bump into it. The closer they are to the object the quicker the device will beep.

Wertz has only participated in the CIC once. He was hoping to participate again this year but he is  unsure if he will be able to. “We moved to a new house and my new school doesn’t have the program.”

Colin Wertz and Gabriel Mesa are two of three young inventors who won the reSET award at the CIC finals event at UConn, Storrs, last spring. reSET is an organization that aims to promote social enterprise. Social Enterprise Trust defines ‘social enterprises‘ as companies that create solutions to out communities social and environmental problems while at the same time driving economic growth by creating jobs and businesses. For more information, go to www.socialenterprisetrust.org.

About the Connecticut Invention Convention

 CIC is the largest program of its kind in the nation, with over 12,000 children participating every year. It is an award winning, “internationally recognized, 501(c)(3) non profit educational program designed to develop  and enhance critical thinking skills in children in grade k-8 through invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship, while encouraging their interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics(STEM).” More information about the Connecticut Invention Convention is at www.CTinventionconvention.org or on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ctinventionconvention.