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Young Inventor(s)[NAME(S)] from [NAME OF TOWN OR SCHOOL]
[Has/Have]Win Coveted Honors at the 2011Connecticut Invention Convention
[INSERT NAME OF TOWN], Connecticut ([INSERT DATE])– [STUDENT NAME(S)]has/have won special honors at the 2011 Connecticut Invention Convention (CIC), heldon May [DATE] at Gampel Pavilion at the University of Connecticut. [NAME(S)] is/are [GRADE LEVEL AND SCHOOL NAME FOR EACH STUDENT].
[NAME(S)] was selected for his/her invention [BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FOR EACH WINNER].
Winning at the prestigious Connecticut Invention Convention ( is the culmination of a year-long program designed to develop, encourage, and enhance students' critical thinking skills through invention. The CIC process follows all the steps involved in inventing a product and bringing it to market. The students define a solution to an everyday problem, design and build a prototype, research the market for similar products to prove originality, track their progress in written inventor’s logs, and document everything in a detailed display board for viewing by judges.
Out of 10,000 Kindergarten-Grade 8 students from across the state who competed from across the state to attend the convention, 650 finalists were selected for the finals in Storrs. From these finalists, less than 200 winners were selected for special honors. Judges for the final competition come from industry, education, and government.CIC innovators are often seen on The Tonight Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Martha Stewart Show, CBS’s Cyberchase and ZOOM, as well as featured in countless newspaper articles.
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“Invention is part of a great Connecticut heritage” said Honora Kenney, CIC president and retired educator and school administrator. “We are known as the State of Genius because of our long history of innovation and ingenuity. Today and into the future, students need the chance to show off their unique capacities and we believe that the Invention Convention gives them the unique experience of making change happen with their own two hands. ”
The CIC begins in the fall, when teachers across the state are trained in the standrads based CIC curriculum and methods. Next,K-8 students in more than 100 participating schools across the state work to discover a vexing problem that they or their family or friends encounter, and local conventions are held to pick the best of the local inventions.
ABOUT THE CONNECTICUT INVENTION CONVENTION
The Connecticut Invention Convention (CIC) is an award winning, internationally recognized, 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational program designed to develop and enhance critical thinking skills in children in grades K-8 through invention, innovation and entrepreneurship, while encouraging their interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The CIC is the nation’s oldest continuously operating children’s invention competition, beginning in the 1983-1984 school year. Over the years, an estimated 250,000 children have experienced local CIC invention programs. Annually, as many as 10,000 students in grades K-8 across Connecticut from over 100 Connecticut schools take part in the CIC learning curriculum. The CIC is funded by grants and in-kind support from community, academic, and business institutions. Since 2008, the CIC has been on an aggressive expansion plan, growing school participation by more than 65%, and adding 15 new corporate supporters, including prestigious national foundations such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation. CIC annually attracts and involves more than 200 professional judges for its program from the ranks of corporate supporters such as United Technologies, (23 years), General Electric, Stanley Black & Decker, Pitney Bowes, Microsoft, Electric Boat, CL&P, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lincoln Financial Foundation and others.
For more information on the Connecticut Invention Convention, visit
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