Students’ entry video for the competition. The video describes the logical thought process of how the sensor system works. Additionally, it also mentions the goal of Project Lit.
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Bhavin Shah, Meetkumar Patel, David Lopez and Brijal Shah of Clark Magnet High School in La Crescenta are finalists in “The Paradigm Challenge,” one of the largest youth innovation competitions in the world. The competition challenged students aged 7 to 18 to use STEM skills plus kindness, creativity, and collaboration to generate new ideas to prevent injuries and fatalities from home fires – America’s #1 disaster threat.
Shah, 16, Patel, 17, Lopez, 16, and Shah, 14, submitted a winning entry, entitled “Lit.” The “Lit” is an affordable and wireless sensor system that can provide real-time feedback to owner(s) and firefighters of fires and hazardous gas poisoning. Their team, LitBusters, is one of 100 finalists in competition.
More than 50,000 students participated in this year’s Paradigm Challenge.
“The number of youth who stepped up to accept our inaugural Challenge to help save lives truly is inspiring,” said Jeff Richardson, Project Paradigm’s founder and CEO. “We commend the finalists for the energy, creativity, and critical thinking skills they put into their solutions to this real-life problem. Their winning ideas can help save lives in communities around the world.”
Their solutions included inventions, community events, mobile apps, videos, posters, and songs.
The 100 finalist teams will win cash prizes ranging from $500 to $100,000. A blue-ribbon panel of judges will review the top 100 entries. The top team in each age category (ages 7-10, 11-14, and 15-18) will win up to $20,000 and a four-day, three-night trip to Los Angeles to attend The Paradigm Challenge Prize Ceremony. Each second place team will win up to $10,000 and each third place team will win up to $5,000.
During the July 23 Prize Ceremony, one of the first place teams will be selected as the grand prize winner and will receive up to $100,000.
In addition to the cash prizes for the student teams, The Paradigm Challenge is awarding cash grants between $250 and $5,000 to the inspiring teachers or organizations associated with the top 100 teams. Gerald Gruss, a physics teacher at Clark Magnet High School, was the inspiring teacher who helped the LitBusters Team.
The public can also choose its favorite finalists during the public voting period, which ends Aug. 30. The ten finalist teams that receive the most votes will win “Public Choice Award” cash prizes ranging from $100 to $5,000.
A gallery of the 100 Finalist entries is available on The Paradigm Challenge website: http://www.projectparadigm.org/monthly-contest. LitBusters members are encouraging everyone to visit The Paradigm Challenge website and vote for their entry by searching “Lit.”
The theme for next year’s Paradigm Challenge will be announced during the prize ceremony. Lesson plan videos and accompanying supporting materials will be available on the challenge’s website.
About the Paradigm Challenge:
The Paradigm Challenge is a new annual competition created by Project Paradigm in collaboration with the American Red Cross and supported by a coalition of partners, including Youth Changing the World and the National Youth Leadership Council. The theme of the competition will change annually. The theme for the current Challenge is home fires. Coalition partners for the 2016 Paradigm Challenge include The Phoenix Society, The National Fire Protection Association, and U.S. Fire Administration.
About Project Paradigm:
Project Paradigm, a national private foundation headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif., aims to identify, support, and collaborate with passionate individuals and organizations to inspire, lead, and facilitate paradigm shifts in the approaches to global challenges. Learn more at projectparadigm.org/founder. Or like us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (@ParadigmChlleng).
Tagged: competition, innovation, technology 