Students recently presented their idea at New Jersey School Boards Association and again at the Nov. 17 meeting of the Evesham BOE.
A select group of DeMasi Middle School students recently learned what it might be like to participate in ABC’s hit show “Shark Tank” where inventors hope to gain financial support for their new consumer products.
Earlier this year, the New Jersey School Boards Association launched the “STEAM Tank Challenge,” where groups of students across the state were tasked to come up with their own idea for a new invention that would help solve a problem in the world today.
Students also had to use Science Technology Engineering Art and Math as part of their invention as a connection to the STEAM education initiatives taking place in New Jersey school systems.
There were 46 teams of students throughout the state who applied to be a part of the contest, with 17 teams chosen to present at the recent New Jersey School Boards Association Convention.
One of the teams chosen was a group of students from Marlton’s DeMasi Middle School, who attempted to solve the problem of food waste — the loss of food that is needlessly discarded or uneaten.
For their new invention, the DeMasi students designed Grocery Guard, a smartphone application that would allow consumers to scan barcodes on food products. The application then sends alerts to consumers as the food approaches its expiration date to cut down on food waste.
Judges for the competition were composed of military engineers, NASA engineers and educators, who ultimately graded students of the usefulness, practicality and creativity of their ideas.
According to Evesham Township School District Superintendent John Scavelli Jr., several judges were so impressed with the DeMasi students they’re now in the process of helping the students refine their product to possibly bring it to market someday.
“Our group is a very special group,” Scavelli said as the DeMasi students once again presented their product at the Nov. 17 Board of Education meeting.
Mia Gallagher, a gifted and talented teacher who was in charge of the DeMasi team, said the team met as a club after school for several months to prepare for contest. Gallagher said the students worked diligently throughout the process, from first proposing their ideas all the way through presenting at the school boards convention.
“The kids did a fantastic job down there, and they even had some little technology glitches, but it didn’t bother them at all. They were very professional, and they did an outstanding job,” Gallagher said.
Students involved with the project include Rohan Gawande, Zachary Little, Payton Ogen, Nicholas Passanante, Jonathan Sanie, Annabelle Smith, Jordan Stein and Anjani Wagh.
