CMS students celebrate National Manufacturing Day
In recognition of National Manufacturing Day, Calhoun Middle School College and Career Academy 8th grade Accelerated Math students participated in a unique and engaging activity focused on innovation through the development of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) skills. Through a collaborative effort with the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Center of Innovation for Manufacturing, three young inventor entrepreneurs were brought to Calhoun Middle School to share in this experience with the students. These forward thinking entrepreneurs consisted of Ty Frix, Co-Founder of Ichor; Cory Hewett, Founder of Gimme; and Brandon Philbrick and Lauren Aycock, Student Engagement Team for Wish for Wash.
The program began with first hand accounts from each of the young entrepreneurs in regards to how they encountered a real-world problem and developed a cohesive plan to address the problem. Students were then challenged to work as individuals or with teams to identify a real-world problem and to develop a solution to it. Students presented their inventive solution, or product, to three of the entrepreneurs in a format modeled after the popular television show, Shark Tank. Students also received information regarding the GT Inventure Challenge to encourage them to take their ideas a step further and submit them for competition.
As a result of this exercise, students were not only exposed to outstanding role models, but were also afforded the opportunity to practice and demonstrate the soft-skills which are embedded within their daily curriculum and are part of the CMS School Improvement Plan. Calhoun City Schools would like to thank Georgia Tech and our special guests for making this day a tremendous success for all involved.