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Garland students, and the Gilbreath-Reed Career and Technical Center, are being rewarded for their hard work on a system to sanitize firefighter’s boots against contagious diseases.
The Lemelson-MIT Program recently awarded the center a $10,000 grant to fund continued work on the project, the school district said on its website.
The center is one of 13 high school-level InvenTeams awarded the grant, which aims to support high school students who examine problems in their communities and search for technological solutions to those problems.
The students in the Gilbreath-Reed Career and Technical Center’s practicum engineering course are working on a project they hope will help establish a system for sanitizing firefighters’ boots against contagious diseases.
The final product — a working prototype — will be presented at EurekaFest in June 2021, Garland ISD said.
Stephanie Couch, the executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program, praised the students for overcoming the challenges that arose this year, which include the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“Despite challenges this year, the students and teachers are valuing the time they have to develop as creative problem-solvers, learning science, technology, engineering, mathematics concepts — and even computer science — as they build their inventions,” Couch said in a press release.
“I am truly impressed by their resolve and tenacity to carry out these invention projects that will positively impact society.”
Last month, Garland ISD announced that Atmos Energy had donated $25,000 to the district, which will fund annual $1,000 scholarships for Garland students pursuing a career in education, health care or as a first responder.