Perk Up: A Vitamin-Infused Coffee Filter
Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the Academy’s Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program help a middle school robotics team take their idea to the national finals.
Published May 2, 2012
By Diana Friedman
The New York Academy of Sciences is proud to announce that the robotics team at Good Shepherd Services‘ MS 45 Beacon Community Center was selected as one of four finalists in the “Wouldn’t It Be Cool If… Contest,” presented by Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds and i.am FIRST, for the team’s idea for vitamin-infused coffee filters.
The members of the robotics team, nicknamed the Bronx Task Force, are all 10 to 12 years old and are part of an afterschool program at Good Shepherd Services’ MS 45 Beacon Community Center, for which the Academy provides trained graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to act as mentors in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through its Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program.
“Volunteering as a mentor for the students in the Bronx Task Force was an incredibly rewarding and fun experience. I had the opportunity to share my own STEM-related interests and experience with kids who were eager to learn, passionate about science and math, and motivated to succeed as a team,” says Rebecca Lyddon, a neuroscience PhD candidate at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, who served as an Academy afterschool mentor during the 2010 and 2011 school years.
Healthy Coffee Filters
The Bronx Task Force came up with its idea for healthy coffee filters after team members noticed parents and friends drinking large volumes of coffee using standard filters. They postulated that adding multivitamins and antioxidants to coffee filters could infuse the coffee with healthy ingredients.
“I got involved in the contest when the kids pitched the coolest idea ever: ‘A to Zinc Coffee.’ I helped them with the chemistry part of the project, where we researched how coffee and multivitamins can interact with each other at high temperatures and how to maintain the efficacy of multivitamins when mixed with coffee, among other questions,” says Ved P. Sharma, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx and an Academy afterschool mentor.
The team presented the idea to a panel of judges in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 25, with other finalists.
“Bronx Task Force’s success is a wonderful example of partnering inspiring mentors with curious, motivated students to build the next generation of engineers and innovators. There is growing demand for mentors to work with FIRST LEGO League teams throughout the city, helping them discover the excitement and fun they can have with science, math, and engineering,” says FIRST Regional Director for NYC Patricia Daly.
A Sense of Pride
The Bronx Task Force’s recognition has elicited pride from all of the organizations involved in Good Shepherd Services’ afterschool program at MS 45, including the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), which provides vital funding for the program.
“I am delighted to offer my congratulations to the young people from the Bronx Task Force for their amazing accomplishment,” says DYCD Commissioner Jeanne B. Mullgrav. “You are true ambassadors for the City of New York, continuing its tradition as a hub of entrepreneurship and innovation. DYCD is immensely proud to partner with the New York Academy of Sciences to support STEM activities in our programs, and cultivate the enormous potential of afterschool programs to open doors to new opportunities, skills, and career paths for our young people.”
The Academy’s Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program has trained more than 320 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to serve as mentors for afterschool programs in New York City and Newark, New Jersey. More than 5,675 students have benefited from the hands-on activities the mentors use to teach STEM subjects.
Also read: Challenging Young Innovators to Think Big and Bold
