Grasso Tech Students Compete In Technology Fair

Students at Ella T. Grasso Southeastern Technical High School gathered at a competitive technology fair at the school Tuesday to demonstrate their ideas and technologies that use recycled materials or address an environmental issue.

Creations included an electric lawn mower, a sandbox turned into a greenhouse, and a solar cooker made from a recycled satellite dish. One group of students took melted down bikes and rebuilt them for low-income children.

Students competed in the “Big Green Battle” to win a share of $1,500 for their innovative use of technology. Shops and after-school programs from Grasso Tech also exhibited their projects.

Melissa Dolzenchuck, 19, a scholar athlete at the school, described drawings for a portable, collapsible greenhouse.

“I’m building mine out of PVC pipes,” she explained. “A PVC pipe, it’s a plumbing-type pipe.”

The event was organized through a partnership between the school and the University of Connecticut’s School of Engineering K-12 program, funded by the National Science Foundation.