2015 Invention Convention

On February 27, 2015 Girl Scouts of Nassau County in partnership with the Cradle of Aviation hosted the third annual Invention Convention for Girl Scout Brownies. The event was a magical experience for girls, teaching them about the history and processes of inventing.

Girl Scouts celebrated the contributions of female inventors like Mary Anderson who invented the windshield wiper, Gertrude Belle Elion who invented the key ingredient in chemotherapy and Stephanie Kwolek who invented Kevlar, the main ingredient in bullet proof vests. Girls were excited to learn that a 10 year old Girl Scout named KK Gregory invented fingerless gloves called Wristees and more recently 13 year old Girl Scout Brooke Martin invented iCPooch, a computer application that allows owners to video chat with their pets and remotely dispense treats.

As part of the program, girls conducted mechanical, electrical and aeronautical experiments; they were quick to connect problems with solutions and began thinking like inventors. They learned that many inventions were created by adding to or subtracting from existing objects. Girls practiced both methods at the Sock Station; where they added rice to a sock to create a functional heating pad and cut tube socks to create hair scrunchies.

Throughout the evening Girl Scouts were greeted by Cadets from SUNY’s Maritime College who shared their plans to make the world a better place by studying engineering and serving as sailors.

As our last Brownie walked hand-in-hand with her Mother toward the door with her face turned backwards looking up at the aircraft suspended from the ceiling, she turned and said “this was an outstanding evening.”