Utica Community Schools Center for Science and Industry (CSI) sophomores were asked to create a viable, sellable product with original branding and marketing for Tuesday’s Motor City Trade Show at the Instructional Resource Center in Sterling Heights.
They took the challenge seriously, producing dozens of innovative products.
“We made a product to dry the inside of a water bottle when you take it out of the dishwasher and there’s still water inside of it. We made it with a fan, you then put the water bottle upside down in a tray and the fan blows up into it to get the water out,” Jacob Vachon, a tenth-grader at Stevenson High School and Utica Center for Science and Industry said in an email. “The product is called ‘Aqua-Gone.’”
Vachon paired up with another engineering student to come up with the design and circuit for their product.
“I think it went good,” Vachon said, admitting it was stressful but fun to design and build something on their own. “I learned how to improvise and build without direction but by figuring it out.”
He also liked watching people’s faces light up once they figured out what the product does, including professionals in engineering, marketing and human resources, who were invited to attend the CSI event and provide feedback on the students’ designs, marketing plans, presentation skills and overall professionalism.
Greg Feldkamp, who teaches English at CSI, said 23 groups of tenth-graders participated in the event and no two products were the same.
In addition to products each group created three logos for attendees to see.
“By creating at least three logos and getting other peoples’ feedback, oftentimes the one that the student thinks is the best is not the one that the public thinks is the best, which I think is a great learning experience,” Feldkamp said, adding those who came out to see the goods, gadgets and gizmos created by the students including parents, community members and business partners, which gives them the opportunity to really gauge the reaction of consumers.
“As their teachers we can give the students all sorts of feedback and oftentimes it is effective, but when they get feedback from adults outside of the school it makes everything so real and valuable,” Feldkamp said.
Among the lessons to be learned are effective collaboration and communication.
“You can communicate all day and not effectively communicate,” Feldkamp said. “They learn through trial and error and it’s a safe place to make mistakes and still have confidence at the end of everything.”
Among the products that attracted people’s attention was Christmas Carnival, a holiday-themed truth or dare game equipped with a ferris wheel.
“We liked the idea of the Ferris wheel spinning, but we wanted to incorporate Christmas into it and make it into an easy to understand game,” said Chloe Navaroli, a tenth-grader from Henry Ford II and Utica Center for Science and Industry. “My favorite part of the project was getting to design your own product. Yes, you’re using a Ferris wheel that’s already made but you’re tweaking it to make it how you want it to be. A project like this is important because for us students, we’re learning the basics of business and selling a product.”