REGION — On Wednesday and Thursday of last week the Telstar Freshman Academy (TFA) presented their final projects to teachers and other members of the community in a think tank panel forum. The final projects wrapped up the TFA’s unit on innovation, collaboration and communication.
The goal of the projects was to have students come up with solutions to worldwide issues currently plaguing large parts of the world population. This year freshmen tackled issues like global warming, clean water, homelessness and air pollution amongst others.
After being split into groups of two or three people, students focused on the research end of the project before coming up with their solutions.
First-year students Lily Crockett and Myles James did a presentation on how they planned to address lack of housing in New York City.
The two freshmen explained that many people in NYC are affected by this issue, especially people earning minimum wage, living below the poverty line and being already burdened by rent. Their solution: Hydro Homes.
The homes would be designed for use on the Hudson River, would be 100 percent self sufficient and detached from the energy grid because it would be solar powered. Crockett and James made the case for their hydro homes by comparing them to other existing solutions for homelessness.
They said that their product would be superior because the bulk of the space the Hydro Homes would take up is already unused. Another advantage to their idea is that it would not require the use of any technological devices, unlike other previous solutions which involved phone apps.
Freshmen Jazmyn Millet and Mikaylah Danforth also took on the issue of homelessness, bringing their idea of family pods to Los Angeles, where homelessness has skyrocketed since the start of the pandemic. Each pod would have solar powered heat, a fridge and a lock, for added protection.
Freshman Sean Luz decided to take on the issue of clean water in Lake Chad in Chad, Africa. His idea was a filtering device similar to a soil sieve, whereby after you put water into it, it would then filter out any particles that did not belong in the water. Luz explained that his idea would be realistic for Chad because it would not require any electricity, an advantage of his product, considering the limited amount of electricity in Chad.
Following each presentation, group members then fielded questions from several of the panelists and for the most part, were able to give complete answers.
“I was very impressed for the most part. The subjects the teams chose were very relevant for what is going on globally,” Panelist Robin Zinchuk said. “Some teams thought the issues through to the reality of implementation – and those were the best.”
Stephanie Herbeck, who has now served as think tank panelist for five years, was also impressed.
“I look forward to participating every year as it provides such an interesting insight as to how our … students are processing the world around them,” she said. “Going through this process as freshmen will undoubtedly give them a jump start in the development of these skills and will help prepare them for whatever path they choose to pursue.”
Among the panelists were Herbeck, Zinchuk, Ron Fournier, Emily Hanscom, Marcel Polak, Jessie Perkins, Malinda Gagnon, Gary Proulx, Sara King, Lyndsey Smith, John Eliot, Ryder Scott and Mark Kenney.
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