“Go Creative”
Regional Young Inventors and Innovators Competition

In 2006, the Caribbean Council for Science and Technology (CCST) took the bold step supported by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the National Institute for Higher Education Research Science and Technology (NIHERST) to launch “Go Creative”, a 3-year project whose aim was to nurture and build the creative capabilities of youth in the Caribbean region and to share Trinidad and Tobago’s experiences in this area with other countries.

Over the past two years, National Young Inventors and Innovators Competitions were held in seven countries: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Prime Minister’s Awards for Innovation and Invention, an awards scheme administered by NIHERST, was adapted and used as the model for the young inventors and innovations competitions held in the participating Caribbean countries. NIHERST facilitators – Mr. Buddie Miller, Ms. Dolly Nicholas and Ms. Jenais Lastique- conducted training in creativity, the innovation and invention process and prototype building for a cadre of 60 educators and trainers in each country to plan and conduct their national competition, as well as to host ‘Go Creative’ camps for primary and secondary schoolchildren. A total of 177 school-aged children benefited from the camps held in the different islands.

Educators from St. Lucia and St. Vincent also had the opportunity to participate in two-week long workshops on creativity conducted by Dr. Ed Sobey from the Northwest Invention centre, USA. The workshops covered the process of inventing and how to engage children in inventing. It also included many science and technology-based activities that teachers can use to excite students about learning and about inventing. In addition, Antigua, The Bahamas, Grenada and St. Vincent & the Grenadines received a poster version of NIHERST’s Go Creative Exhibition.

The first place winners of the National Young Inventors Competition in each country came together at the NIHERST/NGC National Science Centre from March 31 to April 1, 2009 for judging for Caribbean Young Inventors and Innovators Awards. Eighteen teams competed for awards in the 9-13, 14-17 and 18-25 age categories.

The Awards Ceremony took place on 1st April, 2009 at the National Science Centre, Corner of Old Piarco Road and Churchill Roosevelt Highway, D’Abadie.  The Ceremony started at 1:30 p.m. with specially invited guest such as Dr. Lennox Chandler, Chairman of CCST, and Mr. Phillip Jackson, Coordinator of Science and Technology, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Home-made Cooler, an innovation by Millet Primary School in St. Lucia, topped the entries in the Caribbean Young Inventors & Innovators Competition. Eleven-year old Kester Charlemagne, team leader, received an award from Ambassador Albert Ramdin, Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, on behalf of the team at the Closing Ceremony of the OAS Youth Summit that was staged in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad on April 16th 2009.

Winners of this Caribbean Competition are as follows:

Caribbean Young Inventors Innovation and Invention Competition Winners

Lower Juniors Category (9 to 13 years)

 

1st Kester Charlemagne (team leader) Home Made Cooler Miller Primary School St. Lucia
2nd Liandra Ricketts& Chevaughn Channer Cocoa Husk: Hear this it’s a must. Kilsyth Primary School Jamaica
3rd Kyla Christian Energy Conversion- Produce Today …producing electricity tomorrow. St. John’s Catholic School Antigua

Upper Juniors Category (14 to 17 years)

 

1st Andre Yee Shui Reynaldo Hyatt Kevin Reid Andre Hamilton Caster Plant Mollusicide Brown’s Town High School Jamaica
2nd Quanley Marieatte Gilnad Wilson Eric Joylex Flying Car Choiseul Secondary School St. Lucia

Seniors Category (18 to 25 years)

 

1st Vernel Young Zeek Drum Player St. Vincent and the Grenadines
2nd Kristian Plakaris Removable Housing Unit The School of Sciences and Technology The College of the Bahamas The Bahamas
3rd Carlton Barrows Carlton Richards Michael Hodgson Dervan Brown Production of Ethanol from King Grass Brown’s Town Community College Jamaica

Written: April 2009