Chelmsford High Students Win DifferenceMaker Challenge At UMass Lowell

LOWELL, MA — A team of four Chelmsford High School students won first prize for a product they created — and their presentation of that product — at the DifferenceMaker High School Idea Challenge last Wednesday at UMass Lowell.

The team won the $500 first prize after they presented HCKY Stick, which the creators described as a street/floor hockey stick that is inexpensive, collapsible, durable, easily stored and ideal for schools and recreational facilities.

In early November, the team — which featured seniors Braydon Gray and Ayush Mitra, sophomore Catherine West and freshman Gabriel Silva — had captured first prize at the CHS DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge, which earned them a spot in the last week's competition.

At UMass Lowell, the team was forced to present without Mitra, who had another commitment.

A second CHS team, represented by senior Sabrina Shedd, also was one of six teams to present at last week's event. Its product was called Rock 'n Golf, and was a golf bag with a built-in speaker in order to play music.

The students worked on the projects as part of CHS business teacher Tom Sousa's entrepreneurship class. The students were tasked with identifying a real-world problem, recognizing opportunities presented by the problem and identifying a solution.

During the development of their products, CHS students were aided by students from the UMass Lowell Rist DifferenceMaker Institute.

At the UMass Lowell competition, which took place at the school's Saab Center, there were four judges: a faculty representative from the DifferenceMaker Program, a former DifferenceMaker student who is now part of the faculty, a current student, and a representative DECA Massachusetts.

Sousa told Patch that the winning team likely impressed the judges with a quality product and a good presentation.

"I think there were different things (that made it successful)," Sousa said. "They had done a lot of work and had a prototype that they had put together, which helped make it visual. They showed poise in answering questions from the judges and they were just so comprehensive in what they had done."

Sousa said it would be great if the CHS students continued to work on bringing the HCKY Stick to production, but said that probably will not be the case.

Still, the teacher said he believes the program has taught some valuable lessons.

"To have the skills to be able to identify a problem, take it forward and go for a solution, and to be able to present it in a way that shows they have an understanding of business and everything involved ... it's a great start for them and bodes well for them in the future," Sousa said.