SHS Students Win Engineering Competition

Summit High School engineering students are showcasing their ingenuity in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Create Challenge and making a name for themselves on the national stage.

The Summit High Kitchen Team, which includes James Rayfield and Cole Watson, placed first in the Product Feasibility category. Their teacher is Brent Greene. The team created a kitchen multi-tool designed for individuals with grip strength or arthritis complications. The handle is designed for a comfortable fit in the hand and with interchangeable spring-loaded heads. It requires very little pressure to attach or detach the utensil heads, allowing the user to avoid touching the dirty heads.

"I am incredibly proud of these students and how professionally they conducted themselves," said Greene. "They did all of the design work themselves, and this win is an amazing accomplishment."

Two other engineering teams from Summit also made it to the finals. The Summit High Ramp Team, which includes Abigail Sefton, Maddux Zielinski and Maggie Henkel, created a home-use retractable ramp. The Summit High Bus Team, which includes Cael Delahunty, Gabrielle Carson, Arnav Bhale and Will Cupples, designed a lift cover for wheelchair lifts on buses.

The MIT Create Challenge encourages students to learn product design and rapid prototyping by helping members of their community with disability-related challenges. Teams work together to build a product that aims to improve a particular problem a person has with an activity of daily living.

The competition had four categories: Product Feasibility, Innovation, Community Partner Involvement and Documentation. The SHS teams competed against the top teams in the world.