Let there be light! On Monday, April 7, eleven 6th & 7th Grade teams competed in a Shark Tank style STEM challenge hosted by Camden Catholic, to invent, prototype and pitch a product aimed at helping to make a specific demographic’s life easier with an illuminated invention. Schools represented included: Christ the King, St. Rose of Lima, St. John Paul II, Sacred Heart Mount Holly and Resurrection Catholic School.
The students first met to hear a presentation from Dr. An Nguyen, Director of STEM and Robotics at CCHS. Dr. Nguyen shared about the highs and lows of the design process and gave a primer on illuminating inventions. Following the presentation the students were provided a CCHS student guide who assisted them with collecting supplies throughtout campus before meeting in their assigned classroom to begin the design thinking process.
CCHS students guided them through the stages of Design Thinking to 1-define, 2-imagine, 3-create, 4-innovate, 5-understand, in order to come up with a never-before-seen product that would bring light to the world in a new and helpful way.
Judges including Principal Heather Crisci, Dr. Nguyen, Vice Principal Gerry Luke and Director of NextFab design studios, were the panel for the Shark Tank-style presentations from each team. The panel chose Christ the King's Bright Knights invention as the winner. The Communicator 132 product was created to help non-verbal people use light to communicate.
Each of the students on the winning team earned a $1,000 scholarship to Camden Catholic!
Congratulations to all of our iDesign 2025 participants!