FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Rob Norton
Director of Marketing and Communications St. Martin’s Episcopal School
225 Green Acres Road
Metairie, LA 70003
O: 504.736.9913
rob.norton@stmsaints.com<mailto:rob.norton@stmsaints.com>
(L-R Standing) Ms. Brandy Williams, Director of Design Thinking, Gifford Courtney, Richard Whitney, Farah Wells, Enzo Marcello, Ishmael Blackstone, Ben Bone, Gabriella Killett, Brennan Kronenberg, Kyle Winkler, Jessica Pickens, Kolby McWilliams, Mr. Ray Scioneaux, Physics Teacher
(L-R Kneeling) Clara Rabe, Lillian Doskey, Rimi Mandal, Anabella Imbornone, Madeline Pickens
St. Martin’s InvenTeam Receives Lemelson-MIT Award Excite Award Recognizes Creativity, Innovation in Planned Project
METAIRIE, LA (April 5, 2016) St. Martin’s Episcopal School announces that its InvenTeam has been selected as one of thirty-five teams in the nation to receive the Excite Award from the Lemelson-MIT program. The award automatically makes the team a finalist for one of five InvenTeam grants of $10,000 to fund its project. Sixteen physics students, with science teacher Ray Scioneaux and Innovation + Design team member Brandy Williams, comprise St. Martin’s InvenTeam.
The Lemelson-MIT program celebrates outstanding inventions and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention. The program encourages schools to provide challenging opportunities for its students to solve real world problems. Mr. Scioneaux will attend the program’s Eurekafest at MIT in June where he will receive additional training in invention education.
The St. Martin’s team plans to invent a state of the art blender/juicer that will benefit individuals with digestive system sensitivities by thoroughly removing seeds and husks from foods produced both at home and commercially.
The project is an example of how St. Martin’s embeds design thinking throughout the school’s curriculum and culture through its Innovation + Design Program. This fall the school will open its Gibbs Family Center for Innovation + Design on campus. It will be the most comprehensive school-based makerspace in the region. The impact of the work will expand beyond the school through a mobile lab that will be used with partnering schools and community groups in the metro area to develop the skills of local youth in using design thinking to solve real-world problems.
Founded in 1947, St. Martin’s is a coeducational, independent school that provides students from eight weeks through grade 12 with a challenging college preparatory education focused on development of the whole person. Students and faculty embrace the school’s motto, “Faith, Scholarship and Service.” For more information, visit www.stmsaints.com.
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Rob Norton
Director of Marketing and Communications St. Martin’s Episcopal School
504.736.9913
stmsaints.com
We prepare students to thrive in college and in life.