SAN DIEGO (Press Release)– After winning the national Gildor Family Projects and Inventions Competition in New York last June, San Diego Jewish Academy (SDJA) students Ari Colton, Matan Kaminski, Noah Sutton-Smolin and Jake Posnock traveled to Israel to represent the United States at the international competition.
After nearly seven months of work developing an innovative water reclamation device with six other eighth and ninth grade students from SDJA, the group’s work paid off when they won first place at the international competition.
“The competition was a great experience. It all started with an entrance application and assembling our team. We met with a coordinator once a week and began developing our device,” said Matan Kaminski, a ninth grade student at SDJA.
The competition was hosted by the Israel Center for Excellence Through Education and focused on water conservation. The competition challenged students from across the world to conceptualize and create devices that could be used to recycle grey water (dirty water) from washing machines so that it could be reused for agriculture or drinking.
The SDJA students decided to use reverse osmosis as their primary method of filtration, as they found this to be the most effective method in their early experimentation. To perfect their device, the group faced many challenges along the way and developed creative solutions for a variety of issues.
“One thing that amazed me was their solution to a problem with a pump overheating. Rather than spending hundreds of dollars on a special heat resistant adhesive, the group researched the issue and found that a combination of petroleum jelly and toothpaste would be just as effective as the expensive adhesive,” stated Rose Armour, an SDJA science teacher and project coordinator.
The culmination of their journey was both exciting and tiring for the students, who returned to San Diego on July 22. “I enjoyed playing around with new things and experimenting. I am excited to apply them to the rest of my learning career, and hopefully use them throughout my life,” stated Kaminski.
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Preceding provided by San Diego Jewish Academy