GGUSD Students Earn Highest Honors in Countywide Innovation Contest

Two La Quinta students displaying their innovation.

Garden Grove Unified School District (GGUSD) student teams from La Quinta High School took home first and second place in their division, which included 94 total teams, at the 2017 ocMaker Challenge.  The countywide competition challenges students to design and build or repurpose a product that will solve a problem, want, or need.

La Quinta High School Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation students Ana Tran and Vanessa Nava’s design “Magnetique,” a makeup brush with magnetized replaceable/interchangeable brushes, won first place. In second place was the team of Nathy Hoang and Caitlin Vu who created a product called uTEMPsil, an interchangeable fork and spoon for babies and toddlers that reads the temperature of the food it is picking up.

The two teams of students, and teacher Nick Ruzzi, were recognized during an awards ceremony at Chapman University on May 13 and awarded a total of $350 from the event’s business supporters and sponsors. Overall La Quinta High School had 13 teams participate in two different divisions at the event which featured approximately 200 teams competing in four divisions.

“We applaud the ingenuity of La Quinta high school students; it is exciting to see the ideas coming out of the next generation of inventors and business leaders,” said Bob Harden, GGUSD Board of Education vice president.  “This accomplishment is a reflection of the value of our district’s business and STEM courses.”

The ocMaker Challenge is organized by the Orange County Department of Education/CTE Partnership, promoted by CTEoc, and sponsored by Deputy Sector Navigators for Small Business and ICT/Digital Media of Orange County.