The EurekaFest Presentation & Graduation

Today was the big day for the Saratoga InvenTeam. Not only did we all graduate this morning (other than Tom Hays, our resident Junior) but as soon as we crossed the stage and had our diploma we darted to the team Suburban to head down to MIT.

Today we managed to graduate at 10:00 and present at MIT at 2:00 making today the longest and most hectic day in our InvenTeam's history. Now that we are all back in our dorm rooms in the Baker House at MIT we can sit back and relax for a few hours before we wake up tomorrow morning and head back to the Stata Center to learn about marketing our invention.

So far it has been a blast and as I sit here typing up this blog post it is finally sinking in that I graduated from high school today. Even though classes ended two weeks ago many other InvenTeam members and I were still at school from 10 to 8 everyday working on the Garden Consultant and putting the final touches on our system.

It has been an exciting year and having my senior year marked as the year of the InvenTeam was just icing on the cake. Looking back I could not be more happy with the time I had at Saratoga Springs High School and working on this InvenTeam project.

We can not thank the Lemelson Foundation, MIT, Bruce Hodge, and everyone else who generously donated their time, resources, and efforts to help and support our team. Also, we can not thank our teacher, Mr. Gallagher, enough for the awesome teacher and mentor he has been not only this year but since my fellow InvenTeam members and I had him freshmen year. The friendships that have been made through this program will last for the rest of my life and I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had through high school and during this past year.

Jeff Pawlick, a member of our InvenTeam and Saluditorian at Saratoga High gave a fantastic speech this morning about the importance of people in your life and thanking those that helped us allong the way to graduation and where we are today. It is programs like this and people like Mr. Gallagher that truly change lives and make a difference in the world. I am so lucky to have had both in one year.

In closing, I hope you take the time to watch this presentation. We poured our hearts and our time into this project and we could not be more happy with how it has come out. Once again, we thank you all for your help and support and I look forward to keeping in touch with our readers and future Saratoga InvenTeam's for years to come.

Thank you -

Elliott Poppel
Project Manager
Saratoga Springs InvenTeam 2008