MIT has officially confirmed the Archer InvenTeam as Excite Award winners and finalists for a 2015-2016 grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program.

Archer’s InvenTeam is comprised of 16 students in the Upper School who work together to solve social issues in our community. Mike Carter, faculty advisor for the InvenTeam, attended the Eureka Fest in Spring of 2014 and found out about the opportunity to submit a proposal to MIT.

The team decided to hold a raffle and send out a survey to all Archer students to see what came to mind when they thought about social issues in our community.

A common thread was the drought in our community.

According to Archer’s proposal that was eventually sent to MIT, the girls came together to develop an idea to create “a device to stop water that replaces or attaches to the normal aerator on a faucet with a small, water powered meter and a membrane valve, like in squeeze sports bottles, to reduce leaks.”

“It would help people become more conscious of their water usage,” InvenTeam member Carina Oriel ’16 said.

Also according to the proposal, some of the students will be reaching out to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), while others will work on the fundraising part of the project so that they can further their progress using the right tools.

The students will begin building their device in the fall of 2015 and will meet until then during X-Block and lunch to perfect the idea.

In addition, Science Department Chair Shane Berning will be attending 2015’s Eureka Fest this summer to present the preliminary draft of the InvenTeam’s proposal to be edited by the Lemelson-MIT Committee.