Teen inventors headed to national competition

Cambria Heights MS students develop device to aid school safety

PATTON -- Although almost every student looks forward to summer vacation, the excitement can hardly be contained for three Cambria Heights Middle School students who will travel to Dearborn, Michigan, one week after the 2023-24 school year ends.

After placing first for their Swift Alert System invention in a state competition earlier this year in Hershey, eighth graders Logan Ivory, Luke Holtz and Maverick Dutko will attend the Invention Convention U.S. Nationals competition from June 5-7 at The Henry Ford Museum of Innovation, where they will meet and compete with other student inventors.

The invention is a multi-purpose button that can hook onto any teacher's lanyard and promotes school safety by rolling down a bullet-proof blind, lock classroom doors and send a signal to local authorities, who could use digital mapping software to figure out precisely where in the school building the alert was sent from.

For Ivory and Holtz, the trip is likely to bring back fond memories of last year's competition, where they earned a patent application worth over $10,000 for their package access tool, a different invention they created to make opening packages safer and easier.

"It's like a handheld box cutter that's really safe and you just run it over a package and it only cuts deep enough to cut the tape," Ivory said of the multi-use device, adding it can cut plastic tie fasteners and peel off labels or stickers.

The students are part of the school's chapter of the Technology Student Association but complete 95% of their invention work at home since they're all involved in other intramurals, according to Michele Schirf, a co-adviser for the group alongside Rachel Manack.

"They have been blowing me away by their drive and determination," Schirf said. "This is something that they genuinely just love tinkering with."

According to Schirf, the students independently reached out to people to help them with wiring the working prototype for their project, as well as state Sen. Wayne Langerholc, R-Cambria, to pitch their idea and see whether they could get the Swift Alert System in schools.

The students said it can be stressful to come up with ideas and work under the pressures of deadlines as they get closer to competitions. The pressure strengthens their time management skills, they said.

Holtz said the students usually visit each other's houses to make their product better, but they are also able to work together remotely via videoconferencing applications. He said they typically spend around two and a half hours working together after school. But if they're in a rush to get things done for a competition, they'll Facetime each other after school for most of the week, Holtz said.

"Whenever we need to get stuff done, we buckle down and get it done," Ivory said, adding Dutko can model different parts of the project and email it to him. Once he prints the parts using a 3D printer, he sends them to Holtz, who can weld the pieces together.

Ivory said he was intrigued by 3D printing after watching a TikTok video over three years ago of someone who created an Iron Man helmet from a 3D printer. He described his bedroom as "a workshop with 3D printers all through it" -- something his mother, Stephanie Ivory, confirmed.

Stephanie Ivory said her son has multiple monitors to accompany his personal computer and six 3D printers to run software applications.

"His room certainly resembles a workshop," she said, adding the boys have been friends since preschool.

She said, in their early years, they were often building tree houses or forts together, which transitioned to designing 3D-printed scaled models to represent their ideas.

"They often take apart older electronics and motors to learn how each component works," she said. "They learn best through hands-on application."

Ivory said she's witnessed the students face challenges and setbacks as they worked through revisions of their prototypes, but they've been able to persevere and learn the importance of commitment, teamwork and communication.

"They recognize the value of accepting constructive criticism, problem solving, and time management to balance multiple responsibilities," she said, adding the boys have developed and refined their public speaking and presentation skills at a young age, thanks to the competitions they're involved in.

The students will also present their invention during the TSA state competition April 17-20 in Seven Springs. Schirf said the school allows the students to "double dip" with the same project in two different areas.

When coming up with their idea for the Swift Alert System, Holtz said they were given the topic of creating something that would promote school safety and developed many ideas before settling on one.

Ivory said some of their other ideas included making a software to give facial recognition to school cameras so students could be accounted for more easily and creating a "janitor robot."

He said they start with a list of problems before narrowing them down to one and designing a solution for the problem.

Schirf said the students like to break down their ideas and then "brutally nitpick it" on their own.

"They try to make it better and better and better," she said.

Holtz said he's excited to return to the Henry Ford Museum to learn more about the history involved. He said the museum is so large that "it basically takes multiple days to explore the whole thing."

"Hopefully we can win a patent there again," he said. "That would be cool."

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.

Trio of inventors

Maverick Dutko

Age: 14

Parents: John and Tracy Dutko

Sibling: Maelyn Dutko

Favorite subject: Math or science

Hobbies: Fishing, hunting and outdoor recreational opportunities

Luke Holtz

Age: 14

Parents: Brandon and Jackie Holtz

Sibling: James Holtz

Favorite subject: Math or science

Hobbies: Fishing and hunting

Logan Ivory

Age: 14

Parents: Michael and Stephanie Ivory

Sibling: Kaiden Ivory

Favorite subject: "Does gym class count?"

Hobbies: 3-D printing and modeling