Agawam High School students work on their cardboard bed protoype.
Reminder Publishing photos by Sarah Heinonen
SPRINGFIELD — Students from Agawam High School huddled around a table inside the dome at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, wrapping twine around toilet paper tubes sandwiched between two flat sheets of cardboard. The tubes gave the structure internal support, while the twine compressed the pieces of cardboard into a solid platform.
That platform was a prototype bed, made to be used in emergencies. The student’s teacher, seeing a problem the students had potentially overlooked, asked if people were supposed to wrap and tie it in the field.
Student Riley Cross said, “You take the middle pieces out and it flattens,” for transport and storage, without a need to ever untie the compression.
That creativity and problem solving was on display in every corner of the room at the second annual MassMakes Innovation Challenge. The Oct. 23 event, an initiative from the Massachusetts Center for Advance Manufacturing and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, presented real-world challenges to over 350 students from 12 schools across central and Western Massachusetts. The student challenges were run by Project Lead the Way, the Pioneer Valley STEM Network, the Blackstone Valley Hub for Workforce Development, and the Fitchburg and Leominster & Gardner Boys & Girls Clubs.
The MassMakes Innovation Challenge was part of Massachusetts STEM Week, an annual series of events meant to inspire young people and harness their skills and creativity to become tomorrow’s industry leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Secretary of Education Dr. Patrick Tutwiler are the co-chairs of the Healey-Driscoll administration’s STEM Advisory Council and were on hand for the event.
“You’ll see a lot of excited high school students here,” said Driscoll. “We know so many of our students are mission oriented, they want to know that what they’re working on has a relationship to real life challenges and opportunities, and that’s what this week is about. How do we think about the ways that we can make this planet better, our communities stronger and solve everyday problems.”
Tutwiler added, “The real purpose of this week is to lift up all the connections to help students connect the dots between what they’re learning each and every day in their science classes to all the incredible opportunities in STEM fields.”
While most of the participating students were in high school, there were some students from seventh and eighth grade, as well.
“The theme for the week is ‘STEM Starts Now,’ which is really sending a strong message that it’s not just high school students,” Tutwiler said. “We kicked off the week in the Boston Children’s Museum with 75 4-year-olds, helping them engage in STEM-related activities so they can see themselves in STEM.”
The students rotated between four stations, each with a different challenge or activity. Project Lead the Way ran a station with a design challenge to create a backpack or crossbody bag that incorporates technology. It was announced that the winning design will go into production.
Gardner High School student Sara Farley said her team looked at the challenge through their own experiences. “We thought of all the things you might want. Like, if you’re hiking, you might want to charge your phone or have lunch with you,” she said. The group’s design included an insulated interior to keep food at safe temperatures, a waterproof compartment for shoes and a built-in, rechargeable battery.
Blackstone Valley Hub oversaw the cardboard bed challenge. It was explained to the students that the challenge was directly related to the need to shelter people during climate-related natural disasters. The criteria for the student designs included being quickly deployable, easy to store and lightweight. The protype beds were each tested for weight capacity.
At another station, Blackstone Valley Hub led the robotics challenge. Students set about programming robotic arms to pick up balls and sort them into different containers. Uxbridge High School science and technology teacher Daniel Sabourin explained that students at the school are first exposed to programmable robots in the eighth grade and many choose to take technology electives throughout high school. The school also engages students in internships. He said the opportunity to explore different avenues of learning was “a unique feature of our school.” He added, “Not every student wants to have a traditional high school experience, sitting in a class, taking notes.”
Yet another group went to a question-and-answer session with professionals working in manufacturing industries, including microelectronics and advanced functional fabrics.
All the students who participated were enrolled in Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Career Pathways at Agawam High School, Amherst Regional High School, Chicopee Comprehensive High School, Gardner High School, Hopedale Junior-Senior High School, Hopkins Academy, North Brookfield High School, Springfield Central High School, Uxbridge High School, Wachusett High School, Westfield High School or West Springfield High School. Innovation Career Pathways is a program that creates partnerships with area employers, exposing students to career possibilities.
Addressing the students, Driscoll spoke about the wide array of challenges that will be solved by people working in STEM fields, from fueling transportation to designing wearable technology. She also emphasized that revolutionary ideas have a history in Massachusetts, the birthplace of the American Revolution.
She later said, “The reality is that there are jobs 10 years from now that none of us could even describe right now, as we think about AI and growing technology, most of which is happening here in Massachusetts. So, having our students prepared for whatever comes next, being able to participate in our strong innovation- and knowledge-based economy is really what STEM week’s all about.”
