State Representative Kara Hope Visits Stockbridge Jr./Sr. High School
Stockbridge Junior/Senior High School 416 N. Clinton St. Stockbridge, MI 49285
Phone 517-851-7770 Fax 517-851-9446
Jeff Trapp, Senior High Principal Meghan Kunzelman, Junior High Principal/Athletic Director
For More Information:
Robert Richards
Stockbridge InvenTeam
(517) 851-7770
[email protected]
[email protected]
On Friday, November 8, 2019 State Representative Kara Hope, from Michigan’s 67 th District, visited
Stockbridge Jr/Sr High School to recognize the Stockbridge Jr/Sr. High School InvenTeam.
Representative Hope congratulated the Stockbridge students for receiving a Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams ® grant
of $10,000. Stockbridge High School is one of only 14 high schools in the nation to receive a Lemelson-MIT
InvenTeam Grant this year. The Stockbridge Jr/Sr High School InvenTeam members are seniors Baylee
Heidrich, Sylvia Whitt and Anna Schlaff, Junior Cameron Brewer, Sophomores Mayzie Wright, Hythem
Beydoun, Brooklyn Rochow, and Juliana Rooke, as well as Freshmen Jack Hammerberg and Brianna Polenz.
The team’s faculty mentor is Mr. Robert Richards.
Representative Hope presented a State of Michigan “Special Tribute” to Stockbridge Jr/Sr High School for their
support of the Stockbridge Jr/Sr High School InvenTeam. She also presented individual “Certificates of
Recognition” to each of the students.
Stockbridge High School InvenTeam’s proposed invention is the Emperor Micro-Lander, a device used to
monitor aquatic life in the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa. The Emperor Micro Lander is a
small, untethered free undersea vehicle for benthic operations. It is hand deployable from small boats. The
product we envision will be lightweight, portable and durable. The system will be small enough to be carried
onto a commercial aircraft to simplify shipping with no hazardous material. The “Emperor Micro-Lander will
carry cameras, lights and a conductivity, depth and temperature (CTD) sensor or other custom sensor
packages as needed. It will use a biodegradable sacrificial weight for the anchor that can be locally sourced in
any port ‘o call. The micro lander can reach a maximum depth of 100 meters and maintain an upright position
regardless of seafloor topography. A locator beacon will help with its self-recovery system. The “Emperor
Micro-Lander” can be programmed to remain underwater for up to a week depending upon the needs of the
researcher and return to the surface autonomously. The “Emperor Micro-Lander” fills a void in the current
marketplace for a low cost, easy to deploy, operate, and recover sensor system that can be used by
professional researchers and citizen scientists alike.
Students, teachers, and mentors representing the Stockbridge Jr/Sr High School InvenTeam will travel to
Washington D.C. in June for the Lemelson-MIT Program's EurekaFest, a multi-day celebration of the inventive
spirit. InvenTeams present and showcase their prototypes at EurekaFest’s public exhibit that will be held at
the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History which sees thousands of guests from around the
world each day and home to the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation .
For more information please contact Mr. Richards at (517) 851-7770 or email at [email protected]
