Student invention earns accolades, funds

A group of high school students were awarded nearly $10,000 to develop a water purification project they invented for the national Lemelson-MIT competition.

The team, primarily teens from Laguna High, was one of 15 to earn grant money during the annual event and one of six to receive funding in the Inventing Green category.

Laguna Beach High seniors Aviva Meyers, Andrew Couse, Nolan Gunsolley, Grant Barton and Charlotte Andrews, along with Laguna Hills High junior Jeremy Sogo, will receive $9,918 to develop their device, which uses ultraviolet light, hydrogen peroxide and heat to kill microbial life in infested water, according to a news release.

The Lemelson-MIT program recognizes projects based on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) model, which attempts to help others and solve problems.

The Laguna students take instructor Steve Sogo’s Advanced Chemical Research course.

The grant comes on the heels of Laguna Beach placing first among six teams at last month’s TedX Teen Challenge, an annual contest that fosters talent in STEM-related fields.

The students began meeting last summer and will work throughout the school year to build the project, which they hope to use in third-world nations, beginning with Oloolaimutia Elementary School in Masai Mara, Kenya, the release said.

All 15 teams will showcase their projects at EurekaFest, the Lemelson-MIT program’s public, multiday celebration of the inventive spirit at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in June.