Medway High School Principal John Murray is pleased to share that MHS students had the opportunity to showcase their problem-solving and invention skills through a diverse set of projects during the 2023 Innovation Showcase.

Several Medway Public Schools staff members, Rep. Jeff Roy and other guests visited Medway High School on Friday, May 12 to view student projects and act as judges.

Four Capstone projects were on display in the high school’s library for judging. Other PBLworks (Project Based Learning) projects from the Principals of Engineering, Physics and Project Archive courses were available for viewing, as well as architecture projects.

The Medway Middle School Robotics Team and Science Fair winners were also in attendance to share their projects with guests.

The students who worked on each Capstone project first pitched their project to the judges through a “Shark Tank” style format, trying to convince judges in two minutes or less to invest in their project.

After the pitch contest, judges were able to view each project and ask students questions about their process and final product. The teams were evaluated on how well they defined and researched their problem and developed clear objectives; how well they designed a prototype, communicated the construction process, tested their prototype, acknowledged shortcomings and discussed next steps; and how well they presented their project, used effective visual aids and responded to questions posed by the judges.

The four Capstone projects included:

• The Smart Shower, a shower device that helps to save water, created by Luke Lander and Zhiwen Liu.

• Modu-Spoon, a kitchen tool system that can be configured in different ways to save space, created by Ryan Zambrowski and Coleman Mann.

• FlowGuard, a new system to help clean up oil spills from the ocean, created by Mark Murphy, Arni Potnis and Nora Sullivan.

• Brain Mate, a desk attachment for ADHD-diagnosed students, created by Ava Tucker, Chloe Cornwell and Maddie Walmsley.

Following the presentations, the judges submitted their scores on the students’ pitches and project presentations. In the overall project scoring, FlowGuard was awarded first place, The Smart Shower second and Modu-Spoon third. For the pitch contest, FlowGuard was awarded first place, The Smart Shower second and Brain Mate third. The winning teams were each awarded medals.

Awards were also given for the architecture projects. Students were tasked with remodeling an abandoned warehouse into something useful to the town using professional level modeling software called Autodesk Revit. The Keystone Restaurant, by Charlie McKeown and Ella Barucci was awarded first place; a Bowling Alley by Maggie Kerr, Luke Lander and Cam Condlin was awarded second place; and an Aquarium, by Coleman Mann, James Parchesky and Logan Casasanta was awarded third place.

"Hands-on learning is such an important part of our students' experience, and the Innovation Showcase allows them to work together to research and design a solution to a real-world problem. It's great to see their final products each year and the pride they have in their work," said Jon Jasinski, science and engineering teacher. "I would also like to thank the staff and members of the community who come to serve as judges for the Innovation Showcase. We would not be able to put on the event without their time and expertise."

"The Innovation Showcase is a great event that demonstrates our students' skills in teamwork, communication and creative thinking," Principal Murray said. "It's great to see how the event has expanded in the past few years to feature projects from more high school courses, as well as additional schools as we welcomed our Middle School students this year. Congratulations to all of the students who participated, and my thanks to Mr. Jasinski and Joan Hallet who coordinate the event each year."

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