WHS Sophomores Make Final Four in National Invention Contest

Westlake High School sophomores Hannah Yusoff and Hon Kwok, known as Team KWOFF, made the final four in Time Warner Cable’s nationwide Wouldn’t It Be Cool If contest.

“Wouldn’t It Be Cool If” is a contest presented jointly by Tim Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds – a five-year, $100 million project to inspire the next generation of problem solvers – and i.am FIRST, will.i.am’s initiative to support young people in STEM education in collaboration with FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).  Hannah and Hon won a spot as finalists by racking up among the highest number of votes on the contest website.

The contest challenges students in two age categories – 10-12 and 13-15 – to dream up the collect invention idea to make their lives, communities and even the world more awesome.

Westlake’s Team KWOFF created a bone analyzer kit that would analyze blood of people who break or facture a bone to check for certain chemicals released into the bloodstream when a bone is broken. The process would show the severity of the injury without exposing someone to radiation from an Xray.

As finalists, Hannah and Hon will be flown to St. Louis on April 24 as part of the FIRST Robotics Championships. They will have five minutes to pitch their idea to Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas, Inventor Dean Kamen, Mark Payne of Fahrenheit 212 and guest judges to determine a national winner.

Judges will evaluate ideas on three areas— creativity, feasibility and usefulness. The grand prize winner will have his/her idea developed by innovation firm Fahrenheit 212.