Bothell, WA, August 21-22, 2015

Over 50+ kids and teenagers descended upon University of Washington Bothell this past weekend to take on a unique challenge: to develop 3D printed solutions to help schools that solve problems within 10 common school areas such as classrooms, cafeterias, computer rooms, art rooms, and more which get overlooked due to budget challenges or being classified as low importance projects.

 

STEAM 3D initiative is a joint collaboration between Creative Children for Charity and UW Bothell with a goal to provide access to cutting edge technologies such as 3D printers, TinkerCad, Minecraft and more to our youth community.

 

“I am excited to see today’s youth applying 3D technologies for practical applications,” says Jonathan Cluts, Director of Strategic Initiatives at UW Bothell. “We believe that bringing middle and high school kids together with our students will create a healthy environment for 3D innovation and help foster the next generation of entrepreneurs and creators.”

 

During the two-day event, 3C & UW Bothell co-hosted Minecraft meets 3D printing for the elementary kids along with a full on 3D printing hackathon for the middle and high school kids.

 

At #STEAM3D Pitch contest, Samantha Wineland, Sydney Vernon, Sofia Albrecht, Catherine Whitmer, and Olivia Del Sarto of Team CS Cubed Claimed the Best 3D Invention for their “Don’t Kiss The Frog” that is designed to reduce the number of sick days caused by bacteria infested water fountains. In addition, four other teams walked away with Best Pitch (The High Tech Fries), Best Team Collaboration (Music Mayhem), Best Design (Black Fire), and Best Go To Market Readiness (Flying Kittens) for their creative and inventive solutions.

 

“I was extremely impressed with the initiative and creativity these young inventors showed in solving complex issues with simple solutions! Several of these inventions have clear commercial potential” said Mike Parrott, VP Merchandising, Costco

 

In addition to the prizes, Creative Children For Charity will closely collaborate with schools and nonprofits such as YMCA and Boys & Girls Club to evaluate the solutions and determine feasibility in implementing the solutions at local schools.

 

With the current infusion of 3D printers in schools, teachers are not given the right resources to effectively use 3D technology to empower the students to innovate. The STEAM3D program focused on delivering simple to use workbooks and curriculums for students & teachers to adopt for educational purposes as well as solving common problems at schools.

 

There were 5 awards given to the 5 teams who had the Best Invention, Best Team Collaboration, Best Pitch, Best Design, and Best Go-to-Market readiness.  Team CSCubed (Samantha Wineland, Sydney Vernon, Sofia Albrecht, Catherine Whitmer, and Olivia Del Sarto) claimed the Best 3D Invention for their 3D product called “Don’t Kiss The Frog” that is designed to reduce the number of sick days caused by bacteria infested water fountains. Team Music Mayhem (Ashley Crews, Sydney Macguire, Qiantew Parris, and Elena Uncangco) took the award for best team collaboration with Pump it Trumpet, a design to clean out musical instruments to get rid of bacteria. claimed the award for best pitch with… Black Fire ( Sidharth Prasad, Shannon Cassady, Paul Sebastian, and Isaac Wheeler) won the award for Best Design with Modular Lunch, a lunch tray design that promotes healthy eating and is environmental friendly. Team Flying Kittens (Melina Perraut and Kelly Chen) claimed the award for Best Go To Market Readiness (Flying Kittens) for their creative and inventive solutions.

 

"We congratulate all the 50+ 3D Inventors for taking responsibility and showcasing citizenship to help all of us advance #STEAM3D mission to help schools and students to innovate with 3D Printing technologies" said Kathy Lambert, King County Councilmember.

 

The panel of judges included Mike Parrott- VP of Merchandising at Costco, Kathy Lambert- King County Councilmember, Ivan Owen- UW Bothell Makerspace Faculty Member, Jenni Flinders- CEO of Daarlandt Partners Inc, Claire Martin- Outreach Speaker at Free The Children, and James Anderson- Former UW Bothell Student Body President evaluated 3D Pitches based on creativity, collaboration, innovation, feasibility, simplicity and their ability to help meet the needs of schools.

 

“With the current engagement and interests, the mission of STEAM3D was to jump start innovative ideas that helps youth in our community to become inventors and entrepreneurs by leveraging cutting edge technologies such as 3D printing technologies” said Chirag Vedullapalli, Founder of Creative Children for Charity.