Crossroads News
Students' Invention Sale Doubles as Service Learning Project
Two Middle Schoolers design problem-solving products, donate proceeds to ACLU.
Seventh-grade students Daniel James and Levi Gilbert-Adler often found themselves struggling with missing or nonfunctional items: lost pencils, hole punches beyond repair, gym shorts with no pockets for a School identification card.
So they invented their own solutions.
With Middle School Technology Coordinator Dori Friedman serving as their mentor, the two students created pencil leashes, hole-punch guards, magnetic card holders and more, designing and constructing the products using a variety of engineering equipment in the Edison Maker Space on the 21st Street Campus.
Then, for their service learning project, the students decided to put their inventions up for sale in the Alley and donate the proceeds to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Not only did Daniel and Levi conceptualize and create the items, but they also built a website, advertised their sale around campus and handled the accounting.
“It was an interesting process,” Daniel said. “I really learned what it requires to organize something like this.”
The pair chose the ACLU as the sale’s beneficiary after finding out about the nonprofit organization’s advocacy efforts.
“We had learned about the ACLU in class,” Levi said. “There’s a great demand for what they do, they defend a lot of people and they defend the Constitution.”
Middle School Service Learning Coordinator Josh Adler said the sale will be described to future students as an example of an outstanding project.
