Collapsible Hockey Stick Winner Of Chelmsford High Product Competition

CHELMSFORD, MA — A product called the HCKY Stick proved to be a winner for a group of four Chelmsford High School students in this week's Chelmsford High School DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge.

Seniors Braydon Gray and Ayush Mitra, sophomore Catherine West and freshman Gabriel Silva created the product and presented it to a panel of judges on Tuesday at the Carl J. Rondina Performing Arts Center.

The panel named the HCKY Stick quartet Best Overall Group in the competition. As a result, the students and their product advance to the fourth annual DifferenceMaker High School Idea Challenge at UMass Lowell, which will take place on Nov. 30 at the UMass Lowell Saab Center. Ten teams are expected to compete.

The HCKY Stick, according to the winning group, is a street/floor hockey stick that is inexpensive, collapsible, durable, easily stored and ideal for schools and recreational facilities.

In its presentation, the group identified two problems that the product solves.

The first, is that street/floor hockey sticks used by schools are often tattered and difficult to store in physical education storage areas.

Secondly, with the numbers of hockey players around the world increasing every year, there is a greater need for quality equipment, the group said.

The products presented for CHS's DifferenceMaker Challenge were developed by students in 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.

The students then were asked to present their product in front of a panel of five judges, like on the popular TV show "Shark Tank."

The panel included: Linda Hirsh, assistant superintendent of Chelmsford Public Schools, Steve Murray, CHS principal, and Kevin Willet, professor of the UMass Lowell Manning School of Business/DifferenceMaker Program.

"This gets them thinking about the whole idea of entrepreneurship," Sousa said about the students who worked on the various projects. "They need to figure how to adapt and how to present. We really want them to feel comfortable presenting."

According to Sousa, there is a chance a second team from CHS could end up competing in the DifferenceMaker High School Idea Challenge at UMass Lowell.

The other products in the CHS competition were:

• Rock 'n Golf: A golf bag with a built-in speaker in order to play music.
• Garden Group Greenery: A plant holder that waters automatically.
• Boss Dog: A dog harness equipped with LED lights for nighttime walking.
• Tempus: An organizational app that puts all calendars and to-do lists into one spot.

Watch all the groups presenting their products: